


One Last Arcana

by WoeyLeaf



Series: One Last Arcana Series [1]
Category: Persona 3, Persona 4, Persona Series
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon Divergence - Alternate Ending, FES content, Golden content, Hospitals, M/M, Nanako never nearly dies, Non-Canonical Character Death, The Velvet Room (Persona Series), Universe Arcana, Yu borrows the Universe Arcana, alternative ending, still compatable with Dance and Arena
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-09
Updated: 2021-01-16
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:34:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 49,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27668257
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WoeyLeaf/pseuds/WoeyLeaf
Summary: Even when all is lost: There is still something he can do.One last thing, one last Persona, one last Arcana.
Relationships: Hanamura Yosuke & Narukami Yu, Hanamura Yosuke & Persona 4 Protagonist, Hanamura Yosuke & Seta Souji, Hanamura Yosuke/Narukami Yu, Hanamura Yosuke/Persona 4 Protagonist, Hanamura Yosuke/Seta Souji
Series: One Last Arcana Series [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2117484
Comments: 12
Kudos: 19





	1. One Last Thing

**Author's Note:**

> ****
> 
> ### Please Read:
> 
>  ****  
> -Izanami happens February/ early March time instead (Because I just find it weird to think that it happens on one of the last days before he leaves).
> 
> -Nanako does happen but she is only admitted to the hospital for fatigue, she doesn't end up on life support and Teddie still does his little disappearing act out of his guilt for failing to save her from going in.
> 
> -Yu's got the World and Izanagi-no-okami already from the fight with Ameno-sagiri.
> 
> -Someone suggested to add music along side, but I didn't want to include any random song that somebody might not know so I thought it would be more relevant to match each chapter with a P3/4 OST instead. - So I guess if you want a suggestion you could try the ones I've listed if you really want to. 
> 
> ####  Music: 
> 
> P3 FES Mariya Theme  
> [ https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VRXSpkgfbqg ] 
> 
> ### :
> 
> This was supposed to be a ship-neutral story but... Well, you can see how well that turned out. Also sorry if there are any inconsistencies, I can only write when I am tired.

It was exactly eleven-thirty-eight when he opened the letter.

The letter itself had come at the Dojima's doorstep earlier and was waiting in the letter filer when he had come home from school and from whatever job he had taken that day ( _what was it again..?_ ).

He didn't read it straight away as he still had plenty of things to do. It was early February and it was still chilly outside, and whilst there was still snow on the ground it wasn't really enough to make a satisfiable sized snowman. He made curry for dinner and rearranged the fridge after he had made leftovers, and then realised that the fridge was really tight for space after Nanako had gone to Junes for their weekly groceries with the insistence that someone went with her. (She had gone with Teddie and although he could be quite intelligent at times, he was hardly mature enough to be called responsible in his opinion. But who could say no to Nanako after she had begged him the way she did?)

Later in the comfort of his own room, he had finished the few small handouts and had resisted the urge to turn them all into tiny cranes and had slipped into something a little more comfy and less sweaty. He probably should have taken a shower as well but he decided against it seeing as he had already changed his attire for the night.

He glanced at the letter on his desk and decided that now was a good time as any to open it.

It was a standard size and as white as many other letters he had received, most being monthly bank statements and various other letters from Tanaka's commodities. Upon opening it he found a single sheet of printer paper which appeared to be marked with handwritten writing from a ball-point pen. Odd, but not unusual.

What was odd was the name that had signed off. He had skipped over the message and had scanned the bottom of the page to see who had the need to send him the letter.

Adachi...

He had forgotten that name. Well, not actually but he tried to pretend he did. He really didn't want to remember it. It only brought a swirling feeling on pain in his chest anytime he thought of the latter end of last year. He barely stopped himself from crinkling the paper more than his tight grip had done. There was already a constant shallow ache of pain in his chest, he didn't need to add more to it.

But it also brought with it the question of why he would even write to him. To taught him maybe, but then why wait until months after? A begging of forgiveness, perhaps? Again though it didn't sound like something he'd do and he could already tell he had started to learn his errors from the time they had apprehended the man. Yu wanted to hate him so bad; he was a murder and a liar, he had made two of his friends suffer from immense grief and he had also led to Nanako and his uncle getting hurt. Luckily, his injuries weren't life threatening and although Nanako was admitted to the hospital after the incident with Namatame, she only suffered from a case of fatigue due to her child's body not being suitable for the T.v.

But Yu always had a hard time hating for very long. He thought back to when he was a small child, a child around Nanako's age. He'd always got annoyed at the fact that his parents were never settled anywhere and all of the times he was told that he was going with them to somewhere else, a new city, a new district, a country, a new everything and always so abruptly. But after so many years and so many moves he found it harder and harder to hate them for as long. Sometimes they'd leave him alone for a long period of time and the next they would shower him with constant love and affection, only to leave him again. His parents were always so on and off when it came to him.

When it came to the man though he also hated and cared for him too. The things he did were petty and ultimately shitty, but those shared dinners that they had with the Dojima's and the moments that the had shared together... Well, some of them just couldn't be entirely faked. He also knew that deep down he never really wanted her to get hurt.

He decided that he would take the liberty of at least reading his letter he had gifted him with.

* * *

He still couldn't get the words out of his head from last night.

He had ended up waking later than he usually liked but he still had ended up at school roughly the same time as he normally did.

It didn't make anymore sense the more he thought about it, and yet the deeper part of him had almost been expecting it. Honestly, it would have been more helpful if he had told him this before today, but that was for a different thought session.

_"If mankind so wishes, I will one day return. "_

He knew he should have put more thought into what Ameno-sagiri had said to them, but the relief that had come after a long tiring battle and seeing all of the fog disappearing and the smiles and cheers of his friends, his doubt had disappeared too. He couldn't help but feel guilty that he had potentially missed something.

That guilt also rose after snapping out of his thoughts as his best friend stuttered out a response and getting reprimanded by Kashiwagi for giving an incorrect answer after failing to get Yu's attention.

* * *

"Hey, Partner, what's up with you today..? Its like you're kinda spaced out, well, more spaced out than you usually are. Normally you pay attention more in class."

Yu, Yosuke and Chie were on the school rooftop during lunch after making it up to Yosuke with some leftover curry which in turn made Chie tag on along with them with the promise of food. (When offering food always make sure you bring some spare for her too as Yu had learnt over the past academic year). She had also tried to convince Yukiko to come with and bring her lunch to eat with them but she apparently had something that she needed to do during her lunch break that he couldn't quite catch with Yosuke's arm slung around his neck and trying to make it out of the door with him in one piece. 

Chie gave Yosuke a funny look. "You're just annoyed that he didn't bail you out from not paying attention in class, you're even worse. You're just trying to hide the fact that your just an idiot. "

Yu could see him contemplating on whether to insult her back but decided against it after encountering her shoes way too many times for his liking. -She kicks like a demon, he remembers after Yosuke, Kanji and him got pushed off the cliff into the river during the camping trip.

"Its like nearly the end of the year and it wasn't like Kashiwagi's lesson was all that relevant anyway. I couldn't focus well too, if that makes you any better."

"Ngggh, Whatever... Hey! Stop giving me that look Chie. I guess, still though I'm just checking if you're okay or not. You always have that habit of keeping everything to yourself sometimes, I keep telling you it's not healthy, dude."

He's got that right. He nearly always has a tendency to be a little too reserved, but after becoming apart of their group he had gotten a little better at that at least.

Still though, it made him think back to that letter again. He knew that he had to tell them about it sooner than later. Seeing how happy and relieved they were during December, he doesn't want to ruin that but he knew they would be even less happy if something goes wrong in the future and he had known about it.

So that's what he does. He tells them about the letter he had received yesterday and how Adachi had been the one to send it. He doesn't however tell them what was on it in favour of waiting until the rest of them were there. He could immediately see their worry for him and it took awhile to calm them down for them to get back to class. He sent a quick message for the others to meet at Junes. He probably should have waited till after school to tell them because neither of the three could focus for the rest of the day.

* * *

"So you're saying that this... this might not actually beover yet..?"

He had kept the letter with him all day neatly tucked away in his bag. They met up at June's as usual but after seeing Yosuke's and Chie's (and Yu's?) expression made them get an unsettling feeling about why exactly they were there. It didn't exactly help that he had only said in the message to meet up at June's and nothing much else. 

He undid his bag and pulled out the letter to slide it over into the middle of the table. Teddie tried to stand on the chair to get a better look but Rise yanked him back by his collar. Naturally Naoto reached out for it and began to recite the content so that everyone would know what was on it.

"It's from him." Yu said bluntly. Her expression greatly paled in response knowing who he was talking about, but nevertheless it didn't stop her from reciting the message.

> _'Hello again, Yu._
> 
> _You might be surprised to see this letter out of the blue, even I hadn't planned on writing this either..._
> 
> _But there's something about this whole incident that just doesn't sit right with me. I would check into it myself but, well.. Y'know._
> 
> _Ever since I left that place there's something that I have come to think about. It's something I just can't shake off. It's about the Midnight Channel._
> 
> _I remember now... Someone told me about it when I first came to town, even before I came to the station. I was also intrigued when I had read something similar in the report from Nametame._
> 
> _I can't remember who told me. Since him and I gained our powers after coming to Inaba, I'm guessing it has something to do with it._
> 
> _I don't know if this will be helpful or not, but you're a smart kid. You can figure out anything if you wanted to.'_

.

.

.

"What do you think he meant by that..?"

A heavy weight grew over the group of teenagers.

Chie gave a heavy sigh to follow it. "Well 'that' helped a lot. But the case is over though. We solved the case and we defeated that creepy eyeball thing. The fog's gone now and so is the Midnight Channel. You should all know, we've been double checking when it had rained just to be on the safe side."

Yukiko nodded hesitantly as well. "I really don't see what else we can do. We've done all we have set out to do, what more could we possibly do..?"

There was also the incident about Marie, too. She still hung around the velvet room once and awhile, something about still needing to do something or other. The news that it was all over wasn't exactly new, but they had been slowly deluding themselves that this was it, this was all they could do. There were only so many shadows and Gods that they could fight. They had to have completed everything.

A few moments of silence followed after her.

" ...But the other side is still foggy, though.. "

After December while living with Teddie he was used to hearing the off comments from the bear and the subject of his home was often brought up now and then. He and everyone knew how disappointed he was after Ameno-sagiri only their side had fully cleared. Teddie used to say that the fog never used to be on that side and if so something that had caused it the problem must still be there. Even though their side was okay now he still felt bad that after everything he had done for them, they couldn't do the same for him.

" I still- I think that I kinda understand what he means..? I get this feeling you know... It's hard to explain, I'm sure you guys have felt it as well. "

When nobody immediately responded he carried on. "I can't help but think that we're missing something, something really important. I don't really know what but I know that there is definitely something not totally complete yet.

Naoto placed the paper back into the middle of the table. "You're right Yosuke-Senpai, there's still so much that we don't know. "

Rise joined in too. "The Midnight Channel, the rumours, why it showed the people it showed... We still don't know how Yu-Senpai and the other two already could cross even without facing another self."

Yeah, those were things that any of them couldn't understand and to Yosuke everything just felt so... Wrong.

"I wish I could understand it too. None of this truly makes sense, there's too many empty gaps that we just don't know and... And everything that has happened with us and Yu, it all feels too convenient. "

"Yeah, like why them of all people was it them? From what he's saying, it's from something whilst they came here. Do you remember anything that happened whilst you came here, Senpai..?"

He tried to recall his first venture into the town, but nothing of it could be marked as significant in his opinion. He doesn't remember anything or seeing anything that could be classed as weird or abnormal.

He hated this feeling of not knowing.

* * *

That night he had woken up in the velvet room as always when there was a head's up Igor has to give him about another task up ahead. Marie and Margaret were also present as well sat either side of the said man. Strangely though, there was an unfamiliar atmosphere that night; almost sour.

Yet again he spoke in a riddle about his 'journey ' and the abilities of the 'fog' to mask up human desires. The usual stuff. He was almost expected that he would be taking a trip to the velvet room, so he wasn't all that surprised when he ended up back in here. 

But there was also something else the man had to say after his statement of riddles. However, what he had to say after felt that it had even more riddles crammed into it; as if every word had a double- triple meaning to them. It was a speech that he knew he wouldn't remember off by heart by the time he woke up, but he managed to get the general gist of it: His journey wasn't over just yet and that there was final trial he had before everything would go back to normal again.

Yu somehow got the feeling that what ever it was he was suggesting was really significant, but he didn't understand exactly what he was supposed to pick out. A part of himself doubted that he would be dragged here just to state what he had already known.

If only he knew how important his words would come to be.

* * *

The next few days passed just the same as they had done over the start of the year. Yu had been taking less jobs and had taken to instead spending more time with his friends and school work seeing as he no longer had the honour of paying for equipment and various other healing concoctions for the team.

He had even been going more to the clubs much to Kou's delight and Daisuke also seemed a little more happy too. He had also started visiting the music and drama rooms often as well to check up on everyone. Even though the investigation team was currently on hiatus he couldn't shake that part of him.

Chie still insisted that they train together to keep in shape as they had done and she had dragged him out more often than she usually did at the beginning. They didn't have a need to go into the T.v world anymore and that meant that her energy, plus the immense energy and stamina she had gained during her fights had left her more bored and cooped up than she liked. It's nice to train and see the sunrise over the town but it's even nicer when you have someone to share the experience with.

He also brought Yukiko home a few times as well to teach her a little more on how to properly cook something edible. But in all honesty she had gotten a lot better and her food no longer made him sick and he didn't have to do a double-take when he put a spoon of hers into his mouth. She wanted to be able to make delicious food for the guests when she took over the inn. Sometimes Chie would tag along with them but she didn't share the same passion as the black haired girl did. Teddie had also joined in one time and that was a huge mistake on his part to let him into the kitchen, he barely had gotten the kitchen cleaned before his Uncle had come back.

Rise had even invited him on shopping trips as well after finding out about all of the similar ones he had with Ai and felt the need to compete with her even after they had found out he was only been fake dating her. He had also taken up Kanji's offer to teach him a new crochet pattern which usually happened in either his room or he brought his materials into Yu's. (He had started to make a little orange bird- he hadn't decided who he'd give it too yet, and while he loved Nanako he figured it would be better to tone down the amount of presents and trinkets from god knows, otherwise she might not be able to open her door (very) soon). He had also spent a few hours on the weekend with Naoto to improve her social skills on her request, she insisted that a good detective needed to rely greatly on their people skills and for her to be a good detective herself she had to practice. In all honesty Yu thought that Rise would be a better candidate but she was adamant that his leadership abilities were vital for her improvement and insisted that she had a lot to learn from him.

If he had to say though his time with Yosuke greatly increased over January and leading into into early March. What they did together greatly ranged from (not so) hard-core studying sessions with each other, to sitting around on the Samegawa banks idle chatting about what ever ran across Yosuke's mind whilst the brunette occasionally throwing an odd rock here and there or pulled out the random stand of grass here and there.

Out all the moments Yu had spent with his friends since December, or possibly the entire year, he couldn't decide which was more important to him.

* * *

The more time that happened to pass, the more Yosuke got anxious.

This was for two reasons; First was the fact that his best friend would be leaving in spring, and two, they were still on edge after the new letter that the said friend had been sent.

It was true that the guy was completely insane, but apart of him was still sure that he hadn't cracked all of his nuts up yet. Even without his creepy ass letter Yosuke would still have been paranoid as ever. He always had a strong drive of leaving things incomplete. (...Well, apart from his school work of course and maybe occasionally he had cut a few corners at work, but he swears he was getting better at it).

This time he had invited the grey haired boy into his room as he took the desk and the other had taken the bed. He couldn't remember the initial reason why he had called him over, or if there even was actually one, but he probably should have made a plan since they had ended up doing revision on Yosuke's behalf to boost his grades up, even if only a fraction. Basically stuff he preferred to leave at school.

Not that he was completely annoyed or anything, possibly bored out of his mind, but he was incredibly grateful. No matter how distracted Yosuke got, or how frustrated the other must have gotten he still took the time to explain everything at his pace. Honestly, he has had a few study sessions out in the city and more often with the team, but Yu was one of the only people to give him this much direct attention in one go. While he never considered his grades too worrying like Chie's, he would gladly accept any help he could get.

Though it would help if Maths wasn't actually this ridiculously boring.

He didn't realise the elbow that he had been leaning on the desk had been slowly sliding to the side of his desk, eventually leading him to lay his head on top of his notebook. (Oh, how tempting he had been then to actually take a nap right then and there). 

Eventually he started to hear the clicking of a pen, which eventually got faster and faster and Yosuke started to find it quite annoying. He raised his head slightly off his desk over to his bed only to realise that the other boy was no longer sat there. He swivelled on his chair only to find the grey haired was stood directly behind him leaning slightly over him with said pen in hand. When he didn't reply immediately as he had supposedly liked he brought the pen closer to his ear and proceeded to click the life out of it.

"What do you want?"

" I'm just wondering exactly why you have the guts to fall asleep whilst I'm helping with your schoolwork on my day off. "

" Hey, first off I didn't even ask for your help today. And secondly I wasn't sleeping, I was thinking, two totally different things, okay!

Yu stared blankly at him, re-clicking.

"Alright, alright! I'm up, I'm up!' He slid his chair backwards and lifted his head onto the back as he proceeded to stretch his neck. "And could you seriously knock that off!?"

And while Yu did knock it off, it was equally replaced with another strange sound.

"...What are you doing there, Partner..?"

He had moved a few steps away from the chair and from him as he raised his hand to him mouth to hide the smallest of chuckles. And while it wasn't completely usual (he wasn't a robot and he made those god awful jokes sometimes that could even rival the novelty ones whipped out at Christmas and New Years), it was still a much rarer occasion for him.

"What's wrong?... Wait, you didn't do anything to me did you? I swear if you did, you're never going to hear the end of it from me!" He started to feel nervous when Yu had just stood there and stared at him like he was. Everyone joked about how he can see into your soul and all that, but sometimes wondered if he _literally_ could just with those deep eyes of his, especially if it was his 'staring-at-the-wall-at-seemingly -nothing' look. He has to wonder how he hasn't summoned a demon yet.

And then Yosuke has to look away from him as he realised that he had been staring directly at his partner for too long to be considered reasonable (it was his fault too, he was staring at him just as creepily- then he had to ask himself why it was such a big deal with only the two of them. He was being to feel that he could also rival him in his partner's weirdness. Actually scratch that, Teddie was definitely a candidate before him and he didn't know if he, or anyone else, knew the true extent of Yu's weirdness and his magical stomach that could digest anything better than Chie's (which was also a really odd thing about him in itself because he was more than clearly capable of cooking himself actual meals). And then Yosuke has to ask himself why all of this is even concerning him right now and he's definitely sure that his partner's eyes also come with a mind altering ability because his mind has been starting to wander more after being around the other more frequently).

"No...? It's just-" the grey haired boy gestured to his own cheek and circled his index finger to it "you have a little... Something on it."

Huh?

He raised his own finger to his face.

"No, the other one. It's right around here." He gestured again to his cheek.

He moved his arm towards where he was pointing and rubbed it slightly.

His finger came back as grey.

He stared at it for awhile, and then he eventually figured out what it was. His face grew red in embarrassment and he quickly rubbed the rest of his face clear with his hand, probably a little too raw. He hoped that Yu would take it that it was just that he had rubbed a bit too harshly, and not that it was because he had humiliated himself for the day. The side of his face had been smugged with the pencil lead from his notebook mixed with saliva from where he must have dribbled onto the page. Seriously, how gross was he? Talk about disgusting...

Yu frowned. "...No, you still missed quite a bit".

Before Yosuke could ask 'where?' He walked up to him and grabbed the side of his face. (How had he gotten so close to him that quickly? Nngh, dang it, his face was getting redder again. Probably most likely because he felt like a child in this situation).

He looked down from his gaze to the floor, and as he did he saw Yu pull his sleeve down and bunch the end fabric with his free hand. When he eventually felt the same material took his cheek he couldn't help but close his eyes as well. The sensation of his sleeve was an unfamiliar feeling, but not necessarily unwelcomed. With this though, he definitely felt like a little child. Like a mother tending to her children after they've been outside or made a mess whilst they ate. Yep, Yosuke definitely had to agree with that, Yu definitely reminded him of a doting mother; The way he cared for the team, the way he was so amazingly good (and unnaturally) at cooking and cleaning and everything else that he did including the small bird he had snuck into his bag that Yosuke had confronted the other later with to confirm (it later became part of his phone strap. At least the new hobby Kanji had given him would save a few trees now and then, although the odd paper crane still popped up in his room whenever he visited- or whatever else the guy had folded up).

A few moments later after the softness of his sleeve grazed against his face a handful of times Yu felt satisfied at his work. As he moved his sleeve from his jumper away, he used the hand still cupping his face and gave Yosuke's cheek a slightly painful squeeze before removing it completely. Yosuke only remembered to open his eyes in time to give him his most powerful (but not so serious) glare. He really had a weird partner.

"What the heck, man!? That hurt! Do I look like a child to you?"

" I don't know... " He put on his most shit-eating grin that he wanted to rip right off immediately "potentially."

Before Yosuke could kill him Yu had the guts to change the conversation. "So about that work of yours-"

Yosuke was not in the mood to do any more 'work' after that, and Yu and him had settled on talking to each other instead. Not long after Teddie had joined them and was overjoyed that his Sensei had come over, and was also quite annoyed how Yosuke hadn't told him that he would be coming over. Yu had managed to silence the bear with the promise of a few rounds of Teddie's new game (which was on Yosuke's console) to which he had quickly agreed to. He had managed to get a few matches with his partner as well. Yosuke felt like he could take pride in winning more matches than his quieter companion. While they were equals Yu was obviously much better at him in many things and for once he found something that he was better in than him, even if it was video games.

In the end Yu had ended up leaving later than he had planned and ended up having to make it up to Nanako as well, with a hotpot for three.

Yu couldn't say it was a bad thing though.

* * *

Yosuke found himself on the Dojima's couch once again in their living room, this time though it wasn't because he had just invited himself in, but rather two small hands hand pulled him in. She wasn't strong by Yosuke 's definition, but who could pull themselves away with those charms of hers? 

His best friend was currently in the kitchen making dinner, which he referred to as 'a surprise ' when he asked, and insisted that he stay for today as well for dinner. Which he didn't mind of course, not at all. Partner 's cooking was beyond god level, and being with Nanako once and awhile wasn't so bad either. At one point she had crawled into his lap from excitement after beating him in a round of a quiz show and finding that they were airing one of her favourite detective cartoon shows , and if he didn't know what the colour pink was, he certainly did now. It was just that Yu's Uncle was sat on the other side of him on the opposite end. While over the past year or so he's become more tolerable of him, doesn't mean he 's a huge fan of him either. He saw him as a bad influence on his nephew, and it was only a mystery way he hasn't said anything about his daughter clinging off of him. He thinks, probably, that somewhere he knows that Yu wouldn't bring anyone over that would ever harm her. 

When whatever he was making was finished, rather than a normal person, he proceeded to poke him in the shoulder with a clean ladle. He figured much earlier on in their friendship that most of his partner's utter weirdness only came from the courage from fighting mystical creatures on a daily basis and just did things purely based on that 'he felt like it'. Sometimes, however, his level of weirdness is more than he thought could be in someone's head, topped Teddie now and then (if that is somehow even possible..?).

He migrated over to Kotatsu were dinner was being laid, and made his way to his usual cushion. Even though nearly all of the snow has melted, it was by no means 'warm '. The smell was one of the first things he noticed, a strong but yet not too overpowering scent of spices, and he was sure he smelt ginger on those cuts of meat too. It wasn't his usual ginger pork, but definitely similar, and better. It was kind of like a spicy meat stew and after the first bite, he knew he had a new favourite meal. He couldn't help but grin slightly when he noticed he was given just a tiny bit extra. He hoped Yu didn't get married for a long time because he would certainly miss his cooking. He definitely had to ask him to make this again. 

* * *

He could tell that the whole group had grown bored and extremely exhausted after final exams, they weren't exactly shy to let anyone know either. They've been complaining how hard it had been nearly after everyday they had gone home, just to cram in more last minute revision notes, and how each year the exams were made to be harder and harder, and not just because they had changed year but because the exam boards just want to be assholes. They especially weren't shy about letting Yu know either, and while he didn't really complain about it, that didn't mean he found it enjoyable either.

Rise was of course the first one to suggest a 'celebration party' in completing their end of yead exams. While he was up for it he realised that they had a lot of honour parties over the year as well; One for their midterm exams, one for each new member they had acquired, one for apprehending Mitsuo and that huge mess in November and December he would much rather forget about. Still though, the 'parties ' they always had never became boring and someone would do something and completely humiliate themselves and nobody would ever let them forget. They also had their usual dilemma of where on earth they should go.

In the end they ended up crowding into Aiya's, partly for food, and partly for warmth. There was no meat challenges, but the amount of food Chie and Teddie had ordered on their behalf definitely had something to say against it. If he saw another spring roll, he would definitely not be keeping the rest of his down. They paid for the majority of their meals and he footed the rest with their group fund.

After laying around for their food to digest a little they engaged in their usual small talk. Teddie had been boasting about how the new girl at work had called him handsome and he could see clearly that Yosuke had heard his story about a dozen times previously, but didn't quite want to get in the way while Teddie's ego was showing. Chie had also attempted to tell a joke and was slightly disheartened when only Yukiko responded next to him. Thankfully he had managed to sidestep to the right as she backed up, because one of her elbows would have been the final blow to his abdomen. Kanji talked about the success his new spring range was doing and how he had gotten the inspiration from one of their leader's personas.

Probably wasn't the best thing to mention, Kanji realised too, before he could change subject the atmosphere had already soured. 

It made them feel terrible. So many victories, yet so little answers for their so many questions. It wasn't that they didn't try, they really did, but you can only find so many leads before the well goes dry. The T.v world wasn't a normal everyday place you could just visit and almost instantly know everything from its architecture to its history. It was an amazement in itself how they had even found about it in the first place.

_'When will the fog come back?'_

_'When will someone else take Adachi's place?'_

' _When will the Midnight Channel turn on again and show the world another troubled being?'_

_'Will they be able to solve everything before Yu had to leave..?'_

Those were the same questions they had all askes themselves day in and day out. To voice them seemed so pointless when they knew that those questions plagued the whole group and they just didn't know what to do to put their minds at ease. Even in the depths of their study guides and tests, the thought of the other world was still too unbearable. 

They had been practicing, so that they didn't get rusty when the time called for them to venture once again into the T.v to retrieve another person, or preferably their answers they had long sought after. After all they had stumbled across the Hollow Forest completely by chance on a ski-trip no less. Even if nothing would come from their regular training, at least some energy could be burnt and make falling asleep just that little bit easier. 

"...I- What should we do if we don't figure it in time before Yu leaves? What are we supposed when he's gone...?" 

Yep, their little get together was now officially ruined. He let out a sigh. How many times have they had this conversation before? "Chie, just because I wouldn't be there physically doesn't mean that I still won't be able to help you. After everything we've done you don't need to keep relying on me all the time. You showed that you can be capable to fight without guidance and solve problems that even I didn't know about, you all have. Don't keep doubting yourself, you're stronger than you think."

She blushed a slightly in response. He always had that ability to make everything seem better, even if she was missing several limbs, she didn't want to admit it but that would probably be one of the biggest things she would miss when he would no longer be able to stand with them in person. It's one thing on phone and another that you could physically see and touch. 

"Yeah...Yeah, I know. It's just that it wouldn't be the same Y'know? We've been through this all together, and you especially have been there since the start. It wouldn't feel right to do this without you by our sides."

Before Yu could respond, her best friend quickly interjected. "Yeah, it wouldn't be the same if anyone of us was gone, even Noato over there, and she hasn't even been with us for as long as us."

" Yeah! We're a team! " he heard one of them say.

"Whether it's you or someone else, we do things together. Eventually I have to get back to my old career as well, so I won't have much time on my hands to help out. "

"..Well then-" Kanji said encouragingly "we just have to work ten times as hard before the end of this year!"

He managed to get everyone to smile, and in a short time everyone raised a fist before doing a group cheer.

* * *

"Man, I thought I would never be able to get you out of there." Yosuke said as he walked further away from the warm shop and into the mildly cold wind. 

" Geez, they cling on like crazy. They have incredibly strong grips to top it off. Don't get me wrong I'll definitely miss you, but there acting like they'll never see you again once you step onto thar train. " 

He elbowed him lightly after that. "Unless you plan to run away and abandon us, or what if you get into one of those freak accidents and lose all your memories and forget about our existence..??" 

Yu let out a small chuckle. "As if I could ever, it would take me a long time just to forget even one of you." An impish grin formed slightly at the corners of his mouth " whether I mean it in a bad or good way is up to you. "

"What the heck is that supposed to mean?"

They had reached the lookout point and he began to slow his step. The late winter sky had caused the sun to hang a little lower, but it had just made the view even more special around this time, the way that everything seemed to glow a warm orange from the fields to the small houses down below without having to wait longer in the day to see it and the sparcing of snow that still had refused to melt from the rooftops to the odd patch of grass.

Yosuke felt like sitting down for once, and since the ground was still fairly wet he removed his coat for the two of them to sit on and he had already decided that he would go home shortly after this. Since the other guy was leaving soon he wanted to steal as much of his attention as he could. He sat down and the other had followed shortly after.

They were both fairly big, and after many attempts to sit closer together, the side of his left leg was getting slightly damp but at least his other side was extremely warm and cosy. The warmth was good protection from the cold and he couldn't help but lean in a-

_Oh God, they were so close, and he had about to go too close to him. Any closer and they might as well have been cuddling._ _Why was his mind so oversensitive of him being so close to him anyway? They had hugged before, but maybe it was because he was more aware of it this time round. So what though? He had to ask himself, In a few years time they'll practically hanging off each other anyway._

He placed his head onto his shoulder, and shortly after he could feel his head leading on top of his. 

"Getting a little comfortable there, partner?" He basically mumbled into his coat.

"You started it."

" Haha, yup. Just soaking as much of you in before you -

"Have to leave. Yeah, I get it. Me too."

Yosuke lifted his head and although his partner was smiling he definitely knew it was forced.

"Hey, don't get glum on me there buddy. Just like the others said 'Just because you have to leave doesn't mean it's over Y'know'. We'll always be your friend."

This time the smile that had crossed Yu's face had been genuine . "Thanks, that means a lot. After everything it would be hard not to. But same goes to you though. 'Even if we're a million miles apart, I will always be you friend, Yosuke'. There is nothing in this world to stop me from being that, even if you come to hate me a thousand years down the line. 'I'll always be by your side, even if I can't be there in person ."

That caught him completely off guard, and his over sensitiveness had come back again, and he was more aware of the other more than he would like to admit. He, over the past year, had begun to dub it the 'Yu effect'. Any time he was together with him his head would randomly get clouded and he would be left slightly out of breath even long after he had gone.

"You better visit."

" I will. "

"Like all the time. "

"I will."

You better visit all the time , even when you're super busy because I'm going to hold all of this against you. "

"I definitely will, Yosuke. I'll always come straight to you whenever you need me. It's not like I want to leave you either."

" Then don't. "

"Huh?"

" Don't leave here, if you don't want to then don't go. Stay."

Yu frowned deeply but Yosuke didn't care. "You know I can't do that, Yosuke. "

"WHY SHOULDN'T YOU!? IF YOU WANT TO STAY, YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO! Why should you be forced to leave if you don't want to? This isn't fair for you or for us!! 

"Yosuke, calm down. Please." 

He did, eventually . It didn't mean that he was any happy about how unfair this whole thing was. If he didn't want to leave, he shouldn't be forced to. His parents didn't need him, they need him- he needed him.

"I still really think you should stay though. What about Nanako, or Dojima, you're their family too, are you not? What about the team too? Don't you remember what they said earlier? What about those clubs of yours? You're the reason why they are no longer failing, I can't ever remember a time when so many people had joined up even in my previous schools. Plus what about all those gazillion other friends you've got, and those jobs you've taken. Who's going to fill those when you're gone? " 

_'What am I going to when you're no longer a short bike ride away anymore?'_

"You've all managed before I came to Inaba. I've only helped push them, they did most of it on their own, I can begin to tell how much more they are than they let on. Same also goes for you; Even though you hate your job sometimes you always make sure never to cut corners no matter how tempted you are, you're also a pretty diverse fighter and teammate and you're one of the fastest out of us and the first to react, plus don't think I haven't noticed that you've been trying harder with this last exam session either."

_So he's noticed._

"Yeah, second year's almost over. Next year's gonna be the real one, and it's going to decide where I go after that. I'm planning on going to go to college, you told me to aim big, so I'm aiming for somewhere in Tokyo if I can, though I haven't exactly decided on what. What about you? Got any dreams for the future, partner?"

" Not really. "

"You sure? No dream job or ought? Are you sure you really don't want to do anything; World domination? What about a chief, you're good at cooking? Heck, I bet you can make a great housewife, you can definitely lure someone in, just gotta decide on your type still. Though you do have a while to wait for that, don't wanna rush that." He would definitely be a great parent after all, and whoever he chooses would definitely be lucky to have him.

"Nope. Once I finish I'll probably go somewhere in Tokyo too, or at least my parents want me to. There's a couple of schools they've looked into but I'm not going to decide right now until I'm absolutely sure where I want to go." 

He let out an audible chuckle , the kind that comes from really deep inside your chest. Yosuke always loved to hear that one the most, it wasn't often that he laughed or any of the sort, but it was certainly more common than the first few weeks he had known him. It was amazing to think that not so long ago once upon a time that he really hated him because he wasn't anything like he had expected and grew bitterly jealous when he thought that he was upstaging him. Now that he was on the subject he really just wanted to go back to his old self and give him a huge smack across his face, if it wasn't for Yu he'd have to deal with him for a lot, much longer time.

"Maybe if I could, and you get into college then we could get an apartment after High school. It would probably be a lot cheaper too, and we can spilt the chores, although we might have to get part-time jobs to pay for it. "

Living with Yu. It's not the first time he had thought about it, but when the other boy said it, it made that possibility just that much more possible. There was a little part of him that wanted to go back to Tokyo because he knew that his partner would likely be there too. If he went to the city he would definitely have to find his own place, and living with someone was certainly better than being alone, especially if that 'someone' was Yu.

"That sounds awesome, partner! Hearing that really makes me happy. As if I would ever turn you down. If you didn't offer I would be bumming out at your place all the time. Makes the same to me either way. If we do end up, you're on cooking duty, partner."

"Hmm? So what? Are you just using me because you don't want to cook?" He said in a not so serious tone.

" Yep, you figured me out. I'm only using you because you're really good with your hands, as in cooking and whatever weird things your always making in class. Don't give me that look. Seriously, I've never tasted anything better. If you're worried I'll do some chores too. I'm not that bad at cooking either, though I can't really make anything exotic, mostly just the things we prep in the deli or sometimes when I make breakfast for me or Teddie when mother is home. "

"I'm glad you think so highly of my cooking skills, Yosuke. I also wouldn't mind eating whatever you make. "

"Then it's a deal. A year's time from now, let's live together in the big city. I highly doubt I could ever get into the same school no matter how much you encourage me, but it's Tokyo, there's bound to be tones of places I could get into. That settles it; when you're gone I'm going to spend this next year really trying to boost my grades up so I can go to the City and not rely on you all time for help. If we're going to be equals I need to start pulling my weight around and seriously think for myself. I don't just want to stand by you just because you're holding me up. I want to be someone you can really rely on to and-

And, yeah. You get the idea. Sorry for rambling to you, I swear I'm not actually that sappy. "

"Yeah, I know."

He really wanted to go to college, but with the knowledge that they would most likely get an apartment with his best friend made that wait a little more unbearable, but he would survive. Dang it, the 'Yu effect ' was getting him again. He couldn't help but look out to the countryside surrounding them. He sat with him for awhile before the wind started to pick up just a little and with the sun lower on the horizon it was much colder than it previously had been. He couldn't help but shiver in response.

Yu turned further in his direction clearly worried. "You okay there?"

"Huh? Oh, Yeah. Just a bit chilly is all." More than just that, he was absolutely freezing. But he knew as soon as he said that Yu would insist that he go straight home, and Yosuke didn't want to leave right then.

"My bad. I completely forgot that you haven't got your coat on. But it is also your fault for owning almost nothing but T-shirts. We should probably - " 

"No. No... Not yet."

" Then at least take my coat. I've already been doing enough warming up."

"What? No way. I'm not taking your coat. It's just a little coldness, it's not like I'm going to get sick just from this."

Rather than the grey haired boy responding straight away to tell him 'yes, it is fine. Just take the damn coat already.' Yosuke felt the other shift for a while accompanied by the sound of rustling before he felt something draped over him.

"This way we can be both warm."

The boy's coat was laid across their backs so that each of them could get a shared bit of warmth, thankfully Yu's was one of those really comfy types because even though it partly covered him it was still doing something. 

"Here. Try moving in a little more." He pushed himself closer as he possibly could , and as soon as he did, Yu's arm had snuck and made its way to wrap around his middle to pull Yosuke closer to him. 

"This is nice."

They were so close that they might have been better off sitting in each other's laps. Normally doing something like sharing a coat someone is usually something you do with a girl. But this was Yu, he's always been a bit weird like that. Not that he minded, he's never really had a problem of the other guy touching him. If it was another, probably, but not Yu. He could tolerate it with him, like it potentially. Their relationship was something weird to be honest, it was kind of hard for him to classify it because he'd never been this close both literally and figuratively to someone before. But he didn't care. Their friendship didn't need to be labelled anyway. What they had was special, maybe the reason he couldn't find a world or phrase to describe it was because no one had ever gotten this close to someone else.

He couldn't deny how warm and comforting Yu was, and rested his head back on his shoulder before shortly wrapped an arm around his friend too in response. His arm was instantly warm and so was the rest of his body including his face which wasn't protected against anything from the wind. He focused his gaze back to the very last evidence of the sun ever being in the sky and from the corner of his eye he could see the golden light illuminate his face.

He was amazed at how well they seemingly fit together just like this. Having him with him, spending almost every last drop of the day together and having Yu's attention all for himself with no one else to share with. Sitting side by side, close together with the whole rest of the world so far away from them. If he could, he would want to always be here with his partner and hoped that the sun would never have to set. If this moment could last forever, he would forever be happy to spend the entire universe and more like this. 

.

.

.

"Yeah. It is pretty nice, partner."

* * *

The next day it was time to flip over the calendar on his bedroom wall. As soon as he saw the black scrawlings that marked his partner's leave at the end of the month, he noticed that he still had a little time to convince him to remain, but mostly Yosuke was determined to make the most of his best friend's stay. 

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if this is a little dry. I didn't really plan on writing this out fully, but I wanted to try to write again and this was the closest thing in my drafts that I could flesh out the most without immediately trashing it. (For some reason everything in my drafts have the Death warning somewhere in them, I really can't write anything happy can I...)
> 
> Feel free to criticise me, this is (was) only a small writing practice to get myself doing something rather than sitting here like a soggy pillow. (I swear this was only supposed to be a few K words max)- Though do keep in mind that this isn't edited yet much yet so expect a few grammar mistakes till then. I should be able to post the next part soon.


	2. One Last Persona

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After he received an unexpected letter Yu was left with another mystery to solve. With only a month before he had to leave for the city could he save Inaba in time?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   
> Finally I have this chapter done, it took much longer than I had anticipated. Thanks again TowergonomicXVI for making me motivated to carry on. I was tempted on just trying to finish it quickly but I decided to take my time with this one.
> 
> ####  Music: 
> 
> P3 FES Interstice of Time  
> [ https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IqDvbB1Lj0Q ]
> 
> ### :

They had gone to Magatsu Inaba to train a few days later. He had stocked up on a few bits and bobs of healing supplies and remedies for the group, as well as the odd equipment advancements. It wasn't really needed much at all since their storage in the Backlog had essentially become just an overflowing pile, and Yu. Couldn't remember what exactly was in it other than a few items down. No, it had become more of a stress reliever to have that reassurance that they wouldn't run out at a crucial time in battle, but also just to go to the shopping centre and have an excuse to clear his mind from worry, even if only for a handful of minutes.

He brought Chie, Teddie and Naoto with him since they needed to get in a bit of practice as he hadn't bring them with him in their last training session. Kamui-Moshiri and Yamato Sumeragi had been able to level up as well. They had spent most of that session fighting Slaughter drives and Death dice, or whatever else had seemingly crawled into their way. 

Even though there had been the same types of shadows they had fought many times during trips, and with no new shadow appearances it seemed that their enemies were much more powerful, or at least had a stronger hit rate. Even Rise had said something about it and mentioned that they seemed to be a little agitated, or on edge even. Strange concept to think about when they didn't exactly have a mind of their own. It was as if they were almost waiting for something to come along and wipe them all out with a single swipe of a sword.

However, no matter how stronger they had gotten they were till no match for Yu's team and nearly all the shadows in the area had been cleared by them or had fled in fear. Either way, it meant that the stronger shadows gave them more opportunities to show their true strength without them almost instantly disintegrating in a plume of mist. They even had the opportunity to squeeze in some extra training for Kanji and the others for a little while as the others rested. Yu was also able to use up the remaining keys that hand been rustling in his pocket for quite some time now and had obtained a couple of new rare items. SP charms always come in handy. 

At the end of his haul, and their training, they had made their way back with a Goho-M after finally wearing themselves out. When they made their way back to the entrance Yu added more to their growing pile, dumping whatever they had gotten on top, not even bothering to organise it at this point, only taking extra care when it came to the glass bottles. At least the pile was more organised than Yosuke's closet. He would probably agree with him too if he said so to him, Teddie was a messy person by nature. Though Kanji didn't give him an impressed look after they had left, probably most likely down to his extremely organised side. He considered him slightly obsessive as well but when it came to their supplies because the likelihood of blinking will result it back into its current state.

When they left he thought about making those savoury pancakes Nanako had bee pestering him about since she had seen them being made on a cooking programme the other day and really wanted to try them. He thought he could surprise her with them. He probably had enough time to nip into June's for a few last minute ingredients to cook some up later that afternoon and maybe check out the reduce section too.

* * *

Class had finished early for them since it was a Saturday and as soon as the bell went it was the signal for the end of another busy week. He put his text books back into his bag along with his pencil case and collected his phone and put it into his blazer pocket for good keeping. When the more bustling classmates left, Yu stood up and walked over to both Chie and Yosuke's desk and gently nugged them awake. After seeing them stir he gave them and Yukiko a farewell and walked out the classroom door and into the second year corridor.

Putting on his shoes he left Yasogami and pulled out his phone to see if he had acquired any new messages during the course of the day, he hadn't. He was going to do another shift at the day care centre but quickly remembered that they too closed earlier today as well and so there wasn't really any point in going there. He could have decided to meet up with some of his friends but he knew that many of them had commitments. He was mostly certain as soon as he called one of them they would drop all of there stuff and come running, but Yu didn't want to distract them if they really needed to get something done.

So, for for one rare day Yu found himself alone. It was still fairly bright out, and so he thought that it would be nice to go relaxing at the Samegawa river. It was a fairly pleasant journey there from the high school as far as the weather could be. He saw the primary school children making there way home to and saw a group of kids playing a game of tag across the street jokingly arguing that the taller kid had somehow been cheating. They were laughing, and Yu couldn't help but smile along with them internally. He saw a middle-age woman most likely walking with her own mother arm in arm, and to much of Yu's glee, the neighbourhood cats have started to take longer naps along the tops of the walls and as he passed by he couldn't help but stroke them with his hands.

_A year ago_ , Yu thought, _Inaba_ _never would have been this lively._

He thought back to December. All of their panicked cries and the desperate pleas for their children to be safe. The way those same mothers and parents refused to let their child stay out any longer than school hours and starved them of their friends so the killer and the 'toxic fog' wouldn't hurt them.

He closed his eyes, and took a deep breath.

_But the fog was gone now._ He had to remind himself. _He and his friends had done everything they could to protect Inaba. They would do it all again too if they had to._

He focused on the sound of the crunching frost on the ground and sat down on the edge of the river banking. There were much fewer people at the Samegawa than he had seen on his way here, but it wasn't empty. From here he could still see the odd passer-by, the odd student studying in the gazebo, and the man that he had sometimes seen while fishing and the same one he had caught the Guardian for. Seeing him fish made him regret not bringing his own rod. It was an unusual hobby for a teenager of his age to have, but it was one of his most cherished purchases from Tanaka. It did seem a bit weird to go back and grab it though.

Still though it was as nice to just feel the breeze from the river flow pass him and to hear the evergreens and tall grasses rustling. It was almost if it was in anticipation for the new leaves that would cover the masses of trees. Their branches were only covered with tiny pink and white buds for now but they were due to bloom just before he had to go back home. He was planning on going to see them once they blossomed as a final get together with the team and maybe a few other friends too, and Nanako, definitely Nanako and of course Dojima as well. He wondered if he should bring some snacks along too..?

The city had a few parks similar to here but they were no where near as enjoyable, especially with all the drunk business men and the loud motorways in the distance always seemed to be the main atmosphere killer. A few years ago when he was younger those parks where some of his favourite places to be, even more when his parents took him with them. Next year too, College entrance exams will be more than done by this time in a years time. He'd be able to see it then as well for spring break provided that his parents didn't have any plans for him. He didn't hate them by any means but sometimes they did put a lot on his shoulders. Although they hardly called throughout the academic year in the country he knew that they cared about him, even though they hardly showed it. He remembered all those times as a kid when his mother taught him the best ways to cook and taught him all the tips and tricks she had picked up throughout her time in the kitchen, or simply when his father let him stay up a little bit more to watch his favourite T.V show with him. 

He really didn't want to leave Inaba, but it didn't hurt as bad knowing he'd still have his parents and his friends only a phone call away. Plus, after all, it would only be a year before he'd get to spend more time with his best friend. He knew it was bad but he could secretly admit that he favourited the boy the most, but that wasn't to say that he didn't love the heck out of his other friends too.

Yu sat there for awhile watching the man real in his second catch of the day, the children now investigating a large bug they had never seen before, and their mothers on the benches close by. He sat there until the wind picked up and when it was no longer to be comfortable in. Wind had always been a weakness of his and so it only made sense that his first persona was weak to wind too. When he shuffled in an attempt to bring himself onto two he felt a small crumpling in is blazer. 

He had been carrying the letter around with him since he had gotten it as unhealthy as it was for him not being able to let the piece of paper go. It wasn't that he was completely obsessed with it, it was just that he didn't want someone other than them to stumble upon its contents. Yet he couldn't bring himself to tear it up either in case he really did need it. There really wasn't anything that useful on it but it was something at least.

He reached back into his pocket and retrieved the paper once again and then unfolded it. He had been reading it over a few more times after he had showed the group, almost as if every time he read it new words would appear and tell him what to do. He really wanted someone to tell him what to do for once. At this point the folded lines had started to fall apart. 

_Something that happened after they had moved to the town?_

If you asked him what he had done between coming to Inaba for the first time, and the time before touching the T.V for the first time he could tell you now that nothing significant had happened. Though now that he thought about it he honestly couldn't think of what happened then after all the many things that had followed it. 

He shoved the paper back in not so elegantly and made his way back to the house.

* * *

By the time that Yu did come home his Uncle had came back earlier than the man had said he would. It was a quiet day for once at the office apparently and the station had almost been finishing filing up the main case report and other little things that his co-workers had told him he could knock off a few extra hours off his job for the week. 

Dojima had insisted that he would take care of the dinner for the day and when Nanako came back he had put in an order for some Aiya's. She had dragged him and her father over to the couch and put on a pre-recorded show on the recommendation of her friends at school. It wasn't something he would actively watch but he liked it knowing that she did. 

The door rang half an hour and he had gone to answer it. He took the boxes from the delivery girl which his Uncle had paid by card while his cousin had gone to set up the table. After closing the door he put the boxes onto the table after she had finished and they split the food out among the bowls and saucers. They ate together and they had shared their days together and other things that they had picked up while the grey haired boy added in his input now and then when either of them asked for his opinion.

As they cleared up a thought from earlier had risen up again. His Uncle and Nanako had been with him since the start of the year, maybe they would remember what he had done to cause his unusual power as they had done too. It didn't hurt to ask.

"The day you first moved here?" His Uncle looked at him oddly. " You were with us the whole day, remember? We picked you up from the train station and we when straight home. "

Dojima looked down when he felt his daughter tugging on his trousers and noticed she wanted to say something to him. "We did go to that gas station on the way home. I went in when I needed to use the toilet. " 

"Oh, I had forgotten about that actually. Yeah, we stopped by for some fuel too for the car. Still though, why do you ask."

Yu smiled. "Just curious is all." 

* * *

In the quietness of his room he thought back to that Gas station the three of them had gone to. Nanako needed the bathroom and Dojima had gone to fill up the car.

And he had gone to talk to that strange gas attendant. His words were long but blurred, though he did give him a weird feeling. Not just the dizziness that had followed shortly after, but there was something odd about him as a person altogether. He couldn't even tell himself why he felt like that though.

* * *

Yu got up just an hour earlier before his alarm was set to go off. 

He couldn't sleep very well last night and he knew he wasn't going to sleep now either. His head hurt really badly and the dreams he had didn't do much for him either. They felt like he should know what they were about but they were just too odd to really be anything. He didn't know why they should be familiar to him because he was definitely sure there was nothing familiar about it at all. It was just... Shapes and colours. A voice? Maybe there was one too. It was very masculine, almost robotic sounding. 

He went into the bathroom and located the pain medicine over the sink cupboard, and went to take a quick shower to clear his head. It was successful enough to calm his mind for the next several minutes until he turned the tap off and every last thought came rushing back. 

Yu made a quick change of clothes and fixed himself with a piece of toast before deciding he wanted to turn on the coffee maker as well. He sat down at the table and ate his breakfast for the morning. It was unnervingly quiet in the Dojima house when the two of them were asleep, not that they were known to him as loud but rather they were relatively quiet in comparison. He hated it quiet and he reminded himself never to get up before any of them in the future.

He washed his plate and mug in the sink and took out Dojima's mug and left it by the machine for whenever he decided to get up on the Sunday. He put on his shoes and coat by the door and made his way outside.

It was raining when he stepped out and only then he remembered that he had forgotten to check the forecast for today. Thankful that his coat was water proof he tugged his hood put and carried on making his way down the road. It was a little too early for many of the shops to be open at six thirty in the morning and it meant that none of his part time jobs were available either. It probably was much better to head out with a plan but just walking around town wasn't so bad either. In the morning you can see many things that may otherwise be overlooked.

Much to his disappointment the local cats weren't out due to the rain, most likely searching for some form of shelter which left him with very little to do before the shopping district opens for business. So he just walked with no real destination in mind other than to kill a little time before it was an appropriate time to maybe hang out with one of his social links. He had maxed all of them not that long ago but it didn't matter to him because he genuinely did like them all, and not because of the power that they had given him. 

At one point he found himself nearly at the end of the shopping district. He found himself by the same station that had been previously brought up yesterday. A car had driven off after being serviced and he saw a familiar attendant leaning against one of the pumps. He knew he would be here, because just like any rainy day they were always there to be found. 

He never really had the need to be at the station often because he didn't have a car and it was only summer they had found themselves renting the mopeds where it had hardly let down a drop. Yu had figured that the reason why he was only there on rainy days was because the other workers didn't want to work when it did because even if you are stood under the station shelter it was still most likely that you would be soaking within the hour because of how close the road was, so she was most likely contracted on the days where the other workers refused to go in. It was also the same reason why Yukiko and Yosuke disliked it because they'd find that they had less workers to manage with for the day if the rain got exceptionally heavy. Luckily today wasn't too bad but he still hated the way it made his hair stick to him.

His feet made its way towards him before his mind told him too.

"Why, it's you. Is anything the matter? Anything I can help you with perhaps?"

He really should have thought up off what to say before coming over to the attendant but he really wanted to ask him about when he first arrived here because he was the only other person he had met, but it could have also have happened during his first day of school as well, which... Didn't really fair well for his situation. 

"...Yes. Yeah, there is something ."

The man gave him a courtesy smile. "Ah, but I do not see any vehicle to help you with." A small chuckle followed after he had spoken. Oh, right perhaps you're here for a job. We've been fully applied for awhile but since it's you I might be able to pull some strings. "

He shook his head. "No, I'm not looking for a job at the moment. I was wandering if I could ask you something.

" Oh, go on then. "

"Do you still remember the day I first came to this town?"

He put his fingers on his chin for dramatic effect and pretend to think really hard about the question as a show to Yu. Some of his friends were like that as well and he could tell that he was enjoying talking to him because being at the edge of the town didn't give you many town people going by and Inaba wasn't exactly the most targeted place to visitors from elsewhere.

"There's been quite a few people who have passed by here, but yes of course I remember you. I've heard many great things about you y'know? People are always spreading rumours around, but don't think I'm lying when I say they're not talking bad about you. Even so don't take it to heart, it's always better to ignore anyone who hurts you. Though I'm sure you know that already. Hmm, as for when came here you were with that detective and little girl. As I recall she asked me were our restroom was and we had a little chat as well, didn't we? You were only supposed to be here for a year right, planning on making a scrapbook? I've always wanted to do one of those but I never know what to put into one of them."

"Do you remember what we talked about?"

" Dear, that was such a long time ago. You can't possibly expect me to remember that far back. I'm sorry I couldn't be of much use to you. I'm sure you've got other places to be right now, no use hanging around this old person. Though really I have enjoyed your company, most people just go by without a single word.

The man in red stared at him and it was only then he had realised that his eyes were unusually red like his uniform.

"You've been here for awhile now right? "

"I guess you can consider that, though I've only been here a few more months than you. "

"So, that means that you would have seen that detective and politician go through here as well."

Something in Yu's mind was desperately screaming that something was very definitely wrong. That he really shouldn't be talking to him at all. 

"You- They did stop by here didn't they..?"

He should've not asked him that question because now he knows that he is really uncomfortable, and extremely scared and he didn't want to let him know that he was. Something was telling him he needed to leave immediately, telling him that there was something clearly wrong about them. How had he not picked up at how 'different ' they were? 

His breathing picked up and before he knew it he was already backing up. That was the final trigger.

"Of course Izanagi will tell you to stay away from me. Run away like the coward he once was."

_Wha... What the-?_

"There is no use in hiding from you child anymore. Not when he's here."

There was no dramatic flashing of lights or bangs but in an instant his- her clothes had changed. A long white robe and her hair flowed freely from the absence of her cap.

"I am Izanami. You may have 'removed ' the fog, but it still exists if you open your eyes wide enough. "

She was right. The entire street was now filled with the same fog that he had thought that they had gotten rid of months ago. Of course, getting rid of a God and saving Marie, and clearing all those other dungeons was too easy wasn't it? Could his friends even see what he was seeing?

"How are you? Why are you doing this?"

her chuckles seemed much darker now. " I've already told you who I am, but it seems that the both of you refuse to accept it. You are no different from anyone else child, I'm disappointed in you.

You see the fog wasn't my doing really, it was what _all_ of you wished for. "

"Why would we ever wish for this!?"

Her smile was gone. "You know why. It's because nobody wants to face the truth, reality is cruel. You of all people should no this by now. How many people have you heard begging for help? How can you not here everyone's cries for mercy, for freedom? They don't want to be apart of reality, reality is cruel. All it does is take, take and take, and all it does in return is just to make everyone suffer. With this fog it means that they never have to be apart of reality ever again. 

But for that to happen it means that these two world's need to merge together. That way reality in this world will cease to exist and all of your desires can come true. If everyone became shadows you no longer have to feel anything you don't want to. This is my gift to you children. "

Yu's hands had clenched during her speech and he tried to ignore how truly terrified he was at this point. So she really was the one behind everything.

"To hell with that! So you're saying if- if we just become brainless shadows we'd be happy? But.. But that isn't even living anymore! "

She moved closer to him. "Precisely. But what about that friend of yours? You consider him to be alive, no? I know you have many desires of your own too, I know how much you really want to stay here. I know everything about you."

"Leave him put of this!"

" Very well then. You see in reality man really wishes to be terminated, for their own selfish existence to be erased, but... Well there are many things preventing me in doing so. But if they turned to shadows it is basically the same thing, is it not? Mankind wishes for the end, so that's why I must do this. "

"We won't let you get away with this! Just because a few people want that doesn't mean we all do, there just confused! If you really have been watching me like you've said you have, you know that people can change. Everyone I've met can, even the really shitty ones. We have nothing to do with you so why do you even care about what we do? " She was only a few feet away, if he was quick enough he might be able to act first.

"It's because I have mercy. You should know. How many people have you refused walk away from? How many people have you helped over the years? Now imagine how many people you could help with the fog. This is why I must make sure that the two worlds collide together, and yes I do know you well. That is why I know that you will try to stop me.

So that is why I'll let you fight me, after all it is what you want. I have been keeping mankind away from what it really needs. Therefore I will end this. By the end of the day I will grant mankind's wish so that their suffering is not prolonged, I have been leaving them for far too long. 

If you wish to stop me then meet me on the other side. I'll leave you for now, your phone will be ringing any second now. Very well, this shall be my last farewell to you. I meant it when I said I enjoyed your company. I'll be waiting for you and your friends."

Then she was gone. At least the sound of the quiet rain was quickly covered up by his ringtone.

* * *

One minute Yosuke was setting up the table umbrellas, and the next he could hardly see the slot to push the tab through. The rain was nearly all but gone but instead it was replaced with a thick fog. A fog that he was sure they had definitely gotten rid off.

He backed up and let the umbrella pole clatter on the other side of the table from him. He looked around and he could clearly see he didn't mistake it for one of the grills in the food court being on. It wasn't just the food court filled with the fog, as he moved to look out over to the rest of Inaba he saw the same fog. The buildings, streets and even the nearby fields weren't safe from it. Everything was covered in grey. 

He needed to call his friends immediately, anyone. It wasn't supposed to be back, it was supposed to stay in the T.v like it belonged and Yosuke wasn't ready for this. He really wasn't ready and he needed to call Yu. He ditched work and ran straight towards the break room. He didn't care if his father would kill him for skipping work but some things were far more important than a part-time job, besides he doubted anyone would go to Junes any time soon. They were insane if anyone was in the mood to eat right now.

He reached for his in record time and took off to make a call outside of Junes because he was fairly sure he wasn't going to get any sort of privacy in such a large building. He barely made it out of the door before he ran into a customer knocking the woman straight over and quickly blurted out any apology he could think of and took off further from the building.

He could hear yelling behind him be he was in too much of a hurry to offer to help her up. He opened his phone and called the first number at the top of his list. He heard the phone dial and waited for their Leader to pick up. He just ended up listening to the ringing on the other side of the phone.

_Shit, partner. Please pick up, damn it!_

He hung up and called again. Yu had to pick up, it was an emergency. Whatever he was doing couldn't be more important than this no matter how busy the other guy got. But what if he hasn't seen it yet? What if he can't see it? He was sure he hadn't lost his mind but now he was starting to doubt himself.

The fog was much stronger and heavy in any of the time he had seen it. The last time he had seen it he could at least see more than several feet in front of him and it only occurred to him now that it was getting progressively stronger. So stronger he was grateful he didn't travel too far away from the chain because of its bright lights. 

As he waited to hear from his best friend he looked around him. There were cars passing by him and he saw people walking to and from early on in the morning. With how they were last year he thought that they would at least comment on it, they did nothing. There was no panicking or desperate pleas for someone to tell them that 'this was all just a joke'. With how thick it was he didn't expect them to manoeuvre through it so easily. 

And that was when he realised no one else could see it. 

_Damn it! Why couldn't they see it!?_ it was right in front of them. They should see it, they were supposed to see it! 

_But..._ _then again..._ he wondered. _What if he was only just seeing this now?_

He hung up the phone and made his way back to the store. _It would explain why his best friend hadn't picked up straight away._ He wanted to say something like it was all just a dream but he was most sure that he was awake. He needed someone to talk to him. If Yu didn't pick up then he was sure that it was only him who could see this. He leaned his head against one of the walls. What was he supposed to do?

"Yosuke!"

.

.

.

"YOSUKE!"

This time it was for him fall down onto the ground and he was crushed by a familiar blond haired boy. The bear had startled him and he caught him completely by surprised. As angry and annoyed as he would have been for being dragged down onto the wet cold ground he was grateful that Teddie was here. If he hadn't he was sure that he would end up with a start of a panic attack.

"Yosuke, I'm so beary scared! It's back, it's back! Please tell me you can see it, I've asked everyone and no one says that they can! " He clung closer to him. "Why is it here? It shouldn't be here, we got rid of it on your side. Please, please tell me you can see it, your my last ho-"

"You mean you can see it too..?" Yosuke said staring at him with his eyes wide open.

The bear shoved him further back so the rest of his head was fully on the ground. "REALLY!? YOU CAN SEE IT!? I'M SO BEARY HAPPY RIGHT NOW! I DIDN'T KNOW WHAT TO DO IF YOU COULDN'T!"

Yosuke sat up and pushed him off his lap. "Alright, enough already. I'm glad I'm not alone but still no need to get so emotional. Look We'll call Yu, he'll know what to do. I've tried to call him a few times already but if he won't pick up then we can go over and find him. So please stop crying now, we knew that we'd have to expect something like this. "

He snuffed a bit before wiping his nose with his June's apron. 

"Geez, do you have to be disgusting right now? You got snot all over that now. Y'know what I don't even care right now. Let's check by his house, we can call the others too. See if they can see what we're seeing. They might know where Yu is as well." He got up and lent him his hand. As soon as he helped him to his feet he felt his phone go off in his pocket.

"Hi, it's me. I'm sorry I missed your calls but something has happened-"

"You mean the fog?"

Yu nodded in response before realising the other couldn't see. " Yes, yeah it is. There's something else too, Yosuke. I finally found our mastermind. "

"HUH!? REALLY!? YOU KNOW WHO IT-"

Yosuke pulled the phone further away from the other boy. "Hey! Don't speak so loud. Other people can hear and I'm pretty sure you've just made him deaf. 

The bear removed his arm around Yosuke and looked away in guilt from his outburst.

"So, you're really sure you've found them!? How the heck did you figure it out. "

He could almost see his best friend pulling that expression he gave when he had to think really hard. "So Teddie's with you, that's good... I'd rather explain everything when everyone is here. I don't want to have to repeat this more than I have to. I also don't know how to explain it well either. Just- I'll try to call the others, I'll explain them to meet me. That being we don't have much time, can you tell me where you guys are right now?"

"We're by June's. We were just about to start our shifts. "

"Okay. I guess this makes things easier... Alright, both of you stay there I'll get everyone to meet you by the electronics department. I'll try to get there as soon as possible. "

"Sure partner, well meet you-"

"What's wrong Yosuke?" 

"Nothing, Teddie. He just hung up."

* * *

Half an hour later, the eight of them found themselves in the T.V and fully geared up. After making calls to the rest of the group they had immediately dropped everything in favour of meeting them by the supermarket. Once everyone was together Yu explained everything to them. He told him about how he had been near the gas station and the encounter with the strange attendant. He talked about how he had first met her when he arrived over eleven months ago. How it was most likely that she had interacted with them due to her job allowing her access to interact with outsiders. 

Then he attempted to recite what she had said to him by memory and how she had transformed and disappeared straight in front of him. Everything she had told him he tried to tell them, even if he didn't quite understand it himself. When he had told them of the deadline he saw their colour drain from their faces. If the fog hadn't panicked them enough, this certainly did.

Their reactions shortly afterwards ranged from frustration and anger, to pure terror. 

"So you're saying that if we don't stop her by the end of the day the entire world will turn to shadows!? "

"What the heck!? That's their reason? To hell with that! What's our business is our business, she can't do this!!"

"Chie, calm down. We don't know if that is really true or not. We don't even know who they are." Yukiko tried to rest her hand on her friends shoulder but she quickly decided against it. 

"I know how concerned you are Chie, but Yukiko's right. We don't know much about this person that Senpai saw, and we won't know for sure until we find them and confront them ourselves. We should be glad to find them before it was too late. "

Naoto looked over to Yu and he gave her a small nod to appreciate her. "We should make sure we're fully prepared first before we find her in case of a confrontation with them. Rise -" he turned to face her "See if you can sense any unusual presences, or anything that might indicate that she's here. "

"Of course."

"Teddie will help too!"

While the group busied themselves Yu walked over to the corner of the platform.

"Hey, where you going partner?" Yosuke had walked up to him and stood by his side. He probably knew what he was doing since he'd been in the T.V many times before but it was obvious that he wanted to make small talk most likely to distract himself from the rising nerves that the both of them were suffering from.

"Just need to clear my head. I got to make sure that I have the right kind of personas on hand. We don't know what we might ruin into. Since she's able to come here it's most likely she had a persona of herself. I don't want to be caught off guard with something that could wipe us straight on our ass."

" Yeah, that's true. Better to be safe rather than sorry, right partner? "

"Right."

" Hey, Yu? "

The grey haired boy smiled in an indication to continue with whatever his friend wanted to tell him. 

"I.. I just wanna say to be careful alright, we all should be, but... Heh I guess you already know to be. You're not exactly the reckless type, that's why you're in charge. But even, still from the sounds of what she's told you this is probably the last fight we'll have as a team. Not just because of the end of the world stuff, I'm not that negative, but she's the reason why the fog still exists. If she's the true mastermind behind this then this will end it. We promised we'd search for the truth together.

I'll keep going no matter what it takes, we won't hesitate. I've known you for a long time now and I can see that you're gonna tell us that we can back out of this anytime we want. I mean If they're the one responsible for this they're going to be way stronger than that God of the fog. I mean that thing was already pretty tough, but that also means that if we do have to fight our lives will be greatly on the lines, but you're forgetting that the entire time we've been going here we've already been doing. No matter what happens we'll stick by you till the end! "

After Yosuke had finished a heavy blush filled his face, he could tell he meant it but didn't mean to say it with such conviction, it was embarrassing and showing his feelings was something Yosuke just didn't do. 'Yeah... Anyway you get the point. I'm no good with speeches or that, so that's why I'm leaving it to you guys. Well, this is it partner. With this we might finally get the truth. "

He raised his fist and Yu went to match him returning his fist bump.

* * *

"I was expecting you to pay a visit. Welcome to the Velvet room. " 

He hadn't actually come to fuse any personas or gain new abilities, he still had sections of his mind filled with a diverse range from the ones he had brought along to the Hollow Forest. He had actually came because they had been with him from the start of the journey and he was more than sure that now was an important time for them to tell him something.

The long nosed man was behind the table as he always was and so were the two attendants. He could definitely tell that they had been waiting for awhile for him to show up in the velvet room. When he entered all three pairs of eyes eagerly met his. 

"I have many words to share with you, but first I wish to congratulate you. You had lifted the fog, but yet you still sought the real truth. This has been more than what I expected you to do, not that I didn't think you weren't capable. 

But that aside, there is something else I wish to show you."

He made a quick gesture with his hands and soon enough the room was filled with tiny objects that looked like small shards of glass. Margaret and Marie had not expected to see whatever it was that the man was currently showing him. He didn't know what the shards of glass were but he knew that they must be significant in some way or another. They looked curious and they most likely wanted to know what it was just as much as Yu.

The shards merged together, all the pieces seemingly fitted by ease and formed a sphere. It was like an orb of light. It was memorizing to Yu and he couldn't find himself to look away from it as it hovered in the centre of the blue room.

"I can tell you are quite eager for me to explain to you. Very well. This is the 'Orb of Sight' if you will call it that. It dispels lies of sorts so that anyone can see the truth beneath that lie. "

"It was created using some of the power you have gathered on your journey. You'll need it for your last trial, so just take it already." Marie interjected.

It didn't exactly look tangible by any means, but if he touched the sphere maybe he would still be able to hold it. The light lowered down to him and Yu reached out. He felt his hand connect to it briefly before he felt it enter him just as another new persona would. He had closed his eyes and when he opened them again he didn't feel as different as he had done a moment prior.

"Be sure to use that when the time feels right." Igor loosened his interlinked fingers. "This however is the last time we should meet, after all you will no longer be needing our services. Still though, it is never easy to say goodbye. You were quite a remarkable guest, it will be sad to see you go, but it was an honour for allowing us to see you through your journey from the start. Yours will be one for the velvet room to remember. I hope we have been able to help you to the best of our abilities."

"Yes. You've been plenty helpful. I don't think I could have done most of the things I have done if it weren't for any of you. Thank you, all of you." He knew that he was going to tell him that he no longer needed their support now that they were so close in finally solving the case. At the same time though he knew that he would miss this place and that he will miss them too. It hurt in a way and he wished he didn't have to say goodbye to them so soon as with all of his friends. He was being selfish, but sometimes he felt like he earnt to be once and a while. He tried to call himself back to his other friends but he noticed Margaret wanted to say something too.

"Yu... Well... Just be careful okay? Don't be reckless. Remember, I'll be routing for you from here."

" So will I, don't be an idiot, idiot. " Marie added after her.

"Hmm, I'll try to."

" It seems that you'll be needed shortly, it is time for you to leave. Farewell. "

* * *

"Is everyone ready? We've managed to find where she is. "

"Yeah! She's actually beary close to here, just a little further upwards. Rise will show us the way, come on slow pokes!"

As Teddie said they managed to find where they were hiding fairly quickly and they managed to avoid all of the passing shadows they have encountered on their way over. When they got there they were met with a large red gate. Leading up to it was blinding white steps which lead into a giant scarlet platform. The fog was much stronger in this part of the T.V world and it almost felt as if all the fog had been seeping out from this place. This was by far a normal dungeon in the T.V world if he could call it that. It was significantly larger and there where hundreds of strange cuboid objects floating far above that seemed to match the same red as the rest of the strange place. Even the twisted Inaba or the Hollow Forest was as odd as this place was.

...Yu didn't know why but the longer he looked at the place the more familiar it seemed, but he didn't remember ever seeing a place as bizarre as this dungeon before.

"Okay. We don't have much time, I suggest that we get to the last floor as soon as possible, which means to avoid conflict when possible with enemies that we might potentially come across. That being; Naoto, Yosuke and Chie, you'll be with me upfront. Teddie, Chie and Kanji, be prepared to switch out at any point so try to conserve your energy. "

They made their way across the first floor as a group. There where various rooms that were cookie-cutter identical to all the ones on that floor, but also on the floors they would next reach. The shadows on the first floor were tough, but nothing they couldn't handle. They had avoided as much fights as they could but the odd cluster of shadows still hung close by the doors they had to open to find the stairs.

They had found the stairs to the second floor with nearly full health. They were the same kind of stairs as outside except in a deep red colour scheme. They made their way through the floors, coming across many new variety of shadows that all new dungeons had in them. He skipped out on all of the treasure chests they had come across in favour of progressing to the next floor as quickly as possible, he had already brought many reserves with them as they could carry so he didn't see the need to waste his time on pointless curiosity.

Every time they ventured up a set of stairs the more Yu was certain he could hear her voice. Each time he couldn't make out what it was, but it sounded sorrowful and eventually he could catch glimpses of words such as; 'it's hopeless ', and 'observing ' and 'this is true progress '. He decided he would not rack his brain with them and he would get what he wanted to know directly from her.

Eventually they found the stairway to the ninth floor. However, when they did, they were met with a different sight. The fog was much more stronger than before and to the sides of them gigantic red architectures lined the edges of their path far out in the distance and seemed to bend towards another larger shrine gate. 

"Senpai, this should be the last floor. I can sense her just up ahead."

" Thank you, Rise. "

So this was it, beyond this gate would be the answers to all of their questions. Strangely but not unexpected, as much as he glad to finally gain them, he was also terrified deep within himself. A part of him so deep inside was screaming out in fear and dread. However, he knew he couldn't retreat. To do so was to run away and he would have been no better than repressing a shadow of his own. 

"We're finally gonna take down that bitch once and for all aren't we?"

" I know it's been a really long year, but still I can't really grasp it yet that this might be our final time as the Investigation team. "

"It makes me beary sad! Chie way did you have to make me feel so sad now! "

"Hey you stupid bear, don't cling on to me so tight! Nothing's gonna stop us from being friends, we've been through too much to let that happen to us. We'll never grow apart, isn't that right partner? "

Yu didn't say anything, but then again he didn't need to. Yosuke and all his friends knew exactly what he would say.

"Alright partner, this calls for a victory cheer!"

Chie tilted her head. " Ermm, Yosuke? Isn't that what you do when you've won something? We haven't even got to her yet. "

"For motivation, Chie. Besides it'll be cocky to go back on our words wouldn't it? No matter what it takes , let's find the truth together!"

Each one of them placed a hand into a circle, and Yu was the last one to put his hand on just after Yosuke's.

"Together!"

* * *

They saw her figure just up ahead, she was wearing the same white robe and she stood at the end of the path. They walked closer to her, keeping a hand at the hilt if their weapons if they needed to draw them.

"I must congratulate you for making it this far. But after all, it was my powers that I had lent to you."

Before any of them started cursing, Naoto spoke first. "Tell me, it was you who also gave powers to the two other adults, correct? It was also you who created the Midnight Channel and manipulated Sagiri and Marie. Lastly it was you who spread those rumours about the channel."

"I see you are the straightforward type, very well. It was my doing, save for one thing: It was the people of your town who spread the rumour, I played no part in that. It was your human nature to blame for that. The channel itself was only a window of sorts. People wanted to show what they couldn't show, and people wanted to see what they couldn't see. You were the ones who decided who should appear on it. "

_...!?_

Yu could hear his friends stutter in counter argument, but it was Chie who spoke first. "...so- So that's why those who newly appeared on the media was shown on it. This whole thing... It was our faults? "

Yosuke was next to speak. "Hell no! It may have been escalated by us, but you still started it. Therefore it is all your fault, don't try to push the blame on us!! Why are you even doing this!?"

Izanami smirked. "I already told your friend, 'I did this because this is what mankind so wishes for'. This is all for a good intention, why do you fail to see that. Even right now I can feel you all yern for your own terminations. No matter how good ones life can be, there will always be suffering. With this none of you will ever have to suffer, what has reality ever done for us? Don't you want all your desires to come true and never feel an inch of pain again. Besides if you all turn to shadows none of you will die, you will all live forever. If you're afraid that you'll no longer see your friends then how about I let you stay with each other for real rather than illusions since you all know that your friends won't be real like the rest of the world, I'll even let you be with your families too, how does that sound? 

Why challenge it? Think about how many people will be so much happier."

Her offer was more tempting than either of them would like to admit. No more pain and suffering, and getting everything that they wanted anytime they wanted. It sounded too good; but then a world like that, would they even still be truly living anymore. No matter how good it sounded, he knew they shouldn't just live like that. He was stubborn, but he couldn't just accept it.

"As nice as you offer sounds, I'm afraid I have to decline. I'm sorry but we cannot allow you to do that."

" A stubborn one, hmm? You never cease disappoint me, still though I was hoping it didn't have to come to this. I will not back down either, it is a shame since I have grown to like you all but if you will not accept then I will have to kill you all. I will not put so little over mankind, as a goddess it is my responsibility to give them what they want. That is my resolution, I have already left them to wait so long. "

He had been expecting it but Yu still had to quickly step back in time before the floor rumbled, and an excessive amount of fog poured around them. It was so thick that their glasses couldn't cover all of it. A tall figure floated above them, so much more taller than anything they have ever faced before. They all quickly drew their weapons and prepared to fight.

Mind charges were quickly thrown around and the first few bolts of light landed at his feet. This was the teams last fight so they went full out with their reserves on SP draining attacks and abilities. Yu powered up his team and their defences. Another wall of fire was given off by Yukiko's persona and Chie's quickly followed by a wall of matching Ice from the side-lines. 

The fight was draining, and although some damage was done it was taking an awful long time. Multiple rounds of Naoto's gun hit the goddess and more Megidolaons where thrown at them and it was becoming increasing more difficult to avoid them, even with Naoto's barrier. At one point he had been drained so much that Kanji had to take her place, it didn't help that the goddess kept removing their stat boosters she had placed on her friends.

it was getting harder and harder the more tired they got. Yukiko did the best to heal them and the drinks did somewhat to recover their energy, but it still couldn't get rid of the underlining exhaustion that lied deep within. If they continued on like this they were sure to fail.

Then he remembered the visit he had paid the velvet room only a few hours ago. He also remembered what Igor had told him. 

_"An orb that could dispel lies and bring about the truth. Use it when you feel the time is right. "_

Was this the right time..? No, he was sure it was. He thought back to the orb and focused hard to bring it forth out of his mind. It appeared in his hand seamlessly, making his friends curious at the strange object, and he threw it up into the sky. Its light shinning out the being in front of them.

Yu instantly regretted it.

He heard her screams and instantly the smell of rotting flesh filled his nose, mouth, eyes, wherever it could go. She was even taller than she was before and he struggled to even see the top of her head. Many arms came out of her bare ribcage and her entire body was covered in exposed muscle. The sight made him feel sick and more scared than he had ever been in his life.

How the hell was this supposed to help him!? It only made the situation worse! There was no way that they would be able to stand against her now. 

_Igor, Margaret, what were you planning?_

But then if the orb was to dispel lies and reveal truth, then didn't that mean this was her true form? 

"Wha- what the..?"

"Is this for real!?"

" OH MY GOD! WHAT IS SHE!? "

"When she said she was Izanami.. you don't think she meant the Izanami, do you?"

The goddess laughed, everyone had always reacted this way when anyone ever saw her true self. This was another reason why reality should be removed, so many people suffered only on the fact of what they were. "I will put an end to this, do not resist. Why do you all still insist on suffering, why can't you accept that this is the only best outcome to your everyone?

You cannot defeat me on strength alone... Soon, you all will understand. "

The fight started again and she used their surprise to her advantage. She sent wave after wave of ice, fire and electric, and Yu had to keep switching personas at every possible time so that she didn't strike one of his personas' weaknesses. It got to the point that they were so tired that they had given up on using their weapons altogether, opting instead to rely solely on their own personas. Eventually Rise had joined in more progressively with healing her friends to counter balance the healing from Yukiko, and even Yosuke had chipped in a fair chunk. It seemed that the damage they were doing was less than what they were recovering but soon almost all of the goddess' health had gone.

"Guys, this should be it! Just a little more, you can do it! "

Yosuke took it as his cue and ran up to the goddess and drew his kunai straight into her while he heard his friends summon their personas behind him.

_What the!?_

"How is she still standing, there's nothing left!?"

She was _supposed_ to be gone. She had no health left, he knew they had hit her, _he felt his kunai go straight into her!!_ This couldn't be possible, no it wasn't possible, it couldn't be possible -

"I told you that you cannot defeat me, I will make sure that I complete my mission to the fullest. It has been fun seeing you all here, but no matter how much determination you have your will can never be as strong as the millions that dwell in your society. "

Yu felt hands clawing at his ankles as she casted a Thousand curses, and the next he felt Yukio pushing him out of the way, instead grabbing onto her. she sent another curse at him and once again they kept pushing him out of the way to protect their Leader. Yu had to watch his friends slowly sink into the ground and he couldn't even bring himself to fight anymore. When Yosuke pushed him out of the way at last he fell to his knees.

He was alone.

And he had failed them.

This really was the end wasn't it? Everyone will be dead soon and there was nothing he could do. If only he was stronger, if only he wasn't so weak.

If only he could have the power to protect his friends.

* * *

Before he could be dragged under he felt himself being pulled back into his mind.

He found himself once again in the velvet room even though he was no longer supposed to be here. Nothing had changed much, all three were in the room. But this time he noticed Marie wasn't even looking at him, instead out of the window to whatever might be out there and for once Margaret was unusually quiet.

"Hello again, it appears to be that you have run into a tough predicament. Fear not though, it is not the end until it is truly the end, even then there is always something you can do. "

_Even they must have had a lot of faith in him. They had put the world's fate on his shoulders, but he had disappointed them. After everything he had nothing to show, but then he never asked to carry everyone's burden. He was just a kid, he was nothing but weak._

"I see you are doubting your own abilities. You have preformed as well as you have done with the power of your bonds. Have you forgotten how the wild card works, rather than its power coming from you, it comes from the strength of those around you. As the wild card holder it was for you to direct that power as you have done with your friends. "

Igor stared at him for a long time but he didn't know what he was getting at. Then the man across the other side of the room to Yu had a strange look in his eyes: it was the first time he had ever seen so much expression in him. _Was he... Shocked..? But why, what was he thinking about that he seemed so surprised._

"My, My. Too think I have seen everything that there could be here in the velvet room it appears that I have yet many things to witness. It appears that your miracle has arrived just in time."

A single turned down card appeared on the table. It was an ordinary card but to Igor and Margaret's expression he knew it was significant. A once hopeful expression turned blank on the womans face, like she had made a huge revolution. She turned to her master but for once he had talked over her some how knowing every exact word that would come out of her mouth. Marie looked curious as Yu was at the card but she kept it fairly hidden, only giving a glance from her previous position near the window.

"Never again I thought I would see this card again. It truly is quite the sight. "

He flipped the card. As Yu looked at the other side he saw that it was completely blank. 

"This is the power of the Universe. A card that only comes out in the most desperate situations, a card that humans should not normally be able to attain. It is a card that allows anything to happen and there exists none but one, it is truly rare indeed. It appears that someone up above has decided to lean you their aid to help you. 

With this, you have the power to protect your friends and finally obtain the answers to life. For you to hold this means you truly are a special guest of ours. Please take it. "

The grey haired boy picked it up off the table and held it gently between his fingers. 

Nothing happened. Then, everything happened.

His head hurt, it hurted so bad. He felt so sick and he wanted to vomit so much, but he kept it in. So many images flashed through his mind. Blood was everywhere dripping on everything. A sickening moon flashed multiple times in the disarray of pictures and a tower that seemed to touch it. There where warped cries and a rattling chain that grew so loud he was sure his head would have surely split itself apart.

Then everything just stopped. The noise was gone and his vision cleared, and if it wasn't for the fact that they had strange expressions on their face, he was sure he would have thought it was just all in his mind, well in a way it was, but in a sort of different way. His head hurt significantly less after a while and he was able to hear the old man speak again.

"There is only one last thing you need to remember; whatever happens you have accepted the responsibilities to your actions. What happens now is up to you. You were one of the most remarkable guest I have ever had the honour to serve. "

The smell of rotting flesh brought him back out of of the velvet room for the final time.

.

.

.

She clenched his completed compendium close to her chest and she could no longer hold back her tears as they fell onto the blue cover.

"...Please... Please forgive me."

* * *

He heard the voices of his friends. He heard the voices of his teammates cheering for him even though he could no longer see them. He heard Dojima telling him how much he appreciates him and how he was able to bring his family back together, and Nanako told him how much she loved her brother. Daisuke and Kou told him how much of an amazing friend he was and how much they had enjoyed spending time with him. Ai said how much he had changed her life and how he shouldn't give up just yet. He could hear the many voices of people who he had met over the past year. To hear them brought him courage that he needed. Teddie tearfully told him how he made him alive and how he really enjoyed his new life with all of their friends. Lastly, Yosuke was the one to speak to him.

_"If it weren't for you, we would never have gotten this far. Thank you for being my partner, Yu. I'm so glad that I met you. Thank you for everything."_

It was that which allowed him to stand. 

**Will you really do anything to find the truth as you say? If it meant that you could protect your bonds, will you drop everything to do so?**

"Yes, of course Izanagi."

**Very well, no matter what I shall say there will be no chance of me persuading you to change your mind. After all we are connected.**

Without summoning him Izanagi-no-okami appeared in front of him. After he appeared the rest of his personas followed suit. Jack frost, pixie, all of them stood around the two of them. These were the personas that had helped him along the way and they had all done so much for him. They could get a little out of hand at times and sometimes they got a bit overwhelming, but he considered himself lucky to have them. They were all different parts of himself, but they were also parts of his friends too.

Yu nodded. 

**Reach out to the truth. Go without faltering.**

They turned into cards and swirled around the masked persona before merging with him.

Izanagi's form changed once again. He still looked familiar but Yu noticed some differences other than an increase in size. The gold parts of his sword and coat had turned to a soft platinum and the white parts of his outfit slightly glowed with a rainbow of colours, like light reflecting off rain. Around his waist was a thick red rope and several different coloured spheres orbited him.

"Of course you had to show up Izanagi, I am still surprised you didn't just up and run away from him like you always do. Still, I won't back down. Even if were to fail the world will end eventually, you can't stop it, nobody can prevent the End forever, as long as humans exist they will wish for the 'Fall'.

He pulled off his glasses and they landed on the floor beside him.

" Come Izanagi-no-okami telos!"

* * *

The first thing he felt was the wind blowing through his hair. Then he felt green grass beneath him and he felt it touch his hands and face and wherever his skin was bared. The air was warm and Yosuke felt so peaceful lying there. 

But then he remembered the fight and his body quickly shot up into a sitting position. The light that reached his eyes as he opened them temporally blinded him and he had to quickly close them again.

When he was able to open them again he was met with the sight of rolling fields of long blowing grasses. There where flowers everywhere of every colour and trees of every variety. He could hear their leaves rustling but also the sound of running water and as he looked to his right he could see a river and many waterfalls along the cliffs. As he tilted his head he could see how bright and blue the sky was and all the many passing birds.

He got to his feet and saw his friends scattered around him, some by trees and the rocks while others where by the river. If this was heaven it wasn't such a bad place.

He walked over to his friends and crouched down to Chie and Teddie who had been the closed to him. It took awhile for them to awaken and in the corner of his eyes he saw his other friends beginning to stir. Eventually they had all made it to their feet as Yosuke had done and took some time taking in the sights of the area around them.

"Does this mean we're dead..?"

" We couldn't have, right? Izanami... We really are aren't we? "

Rise attempted and successfully summoned her persona. A little while passed and then a confused luck passed her face before turning into a upward smile. "No, the reading is definitely telling me that this is the T.V world. I don't think we've gone anywhere."

"Yup, sweetheart! We're beary much alive, this is definitely the T.V world. This is what it looked like before all that fog came and ruined it. It looked just like this, it was never twisted and scary like you guys have known it as."

Teddie's words did a lot to reassure them.

"So, does that mean that Izanami was stopped, if it's like this she must be gone. " Chie asked hesitantly.

"The shadows are still here but they're much less threatening now, they'll only attack you now if you get too close or disturb them."

Rise put away her persona. "Yeah, I feel it too Teddie. I don't feel her at all, she's completely gone. I think she really is gone for good. Although I can't sense her there's this energy I can feel of hers. I usually only get that after a shadow has been recently defeated. "

Naoto answer her question. "It may be perhaps so, Chie. If the fog is gone from this world completely then it wouldn't be wrong that ours is clear too. If the mastermind is gone I doubt anyone else should appear on the Midnight Channel, hopefully at least."

At once everyone simultaneously let out a small sigh of relief. He was so glad it was finally over. There was no more fog and no longer will Inaba have to worry about another kidnapping or another dead body ending up near one of their roofs.

Kanji looked confused. "Wait, how? I saw only Yosuke and Yu before I was dragged down into... The floor?"

Yeah, Yosuke also ended up being dragged down too when he went to protect his best friend. it must have been something to do with Yu. _His partner really was something. Always had to one up him. If anyone could pull out a miracle like this, it would be partner._

"Heh, Yu's pretty impressive right? If anyone could have defeated that thing it would be Yu without a doubt. Here I thought I've seen everything there is too him. Is there anything he can't do? "

"That's our Leader alright! Pulling out a victory at the last minute, who does he think he is? " Yukiko let out a small giggle.

Chie smiled along with her. "Thank God for Yu, if it wasn't for him we'd all be dead toast by now. "

"Wait."

The group turned to Teddie who stood just behind Rise. "... Where is Sensei..?"

_Huh...?_

He was right, Yu was not stood with them. He had been so focused on the fog disappearing that he didn't focus on his friends around him, he had just assumed they were all there. How could he have not noticed earlier that his best friend was missing..?

"I- He can't be too far, I hope. He was the last one who was in the dungeon. We should wait for him, he might return in a short while..."

" !? Yosuke, I can't sense him at all!! " She had summoned her persona at some point while he had been talking to Teddie. Her hands clasped the side of her visor and her eyes had opened wider as she frantically sought the location of their friend.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU CAN'T SENSE HIM!?"

" Chie, I - I don't know why but I can't feel him anywhere at all." Rise began to feel almost terrified that she was letting the rest of her friends down.

"It's the same for me Rise, I can bearly smell him at all, Sensei has a scent that I can't just forget. "

_Where was Yu? Why couldn't the two of their supporting friends not know where he was?_ His friends and Yosuke frantically looked around the fields of flowers around them. They took off in different directions, they looked by the trees, the rocks and anything else where they might find their Leader.

When Yosuke walked along the river bank he eventually found Yu at the bottom of the slope in the distance, he could recognise him my the tuffs of his grey hair as he laid there on the rocky banking. 

Yosuke called out to his friends that he had found him and he came rushing to his partner's side. 

"WAIT, YOSUKE..! SOMETHING'S NOT RIGHT!"

He reached Yu's side and keeled on the ground beside him. 

"I can feel him now, but its strange, really strange, it definitely isn't a status element. He feels so weak, I don't know how but it feels completely different! "

Their worries turned into horror and whatever pleasure that could have been obtained from their victory had vanished.

"Is... Is something wrong with him..? " Yukiko spoke at last.

"He's just exhausted, right? We can fix this, Yukiko. Try to heal him, I'm sure we've got a lot of medicines and energy boosters still on us. Try using them too. "

She called out her personas name and a wave of warmth surrounded them. Yosuke moved to lay the grey haired boy's head onto his lap. When he did not stir she called for her persona to do another strong healing spell, and then she called for her to switch to revival spells. At this point everyone started to panic and Yosuke remembered the revival beads Yu had always kept in his pocket for emergency. 

He crushed almost every bead his shaking hands could hold. Even then he never did stir. 

"Come on Partner, please wake up!" Yosuke kept shaking his friend awake "please just get up, why won't you wake up, damnit?! "

At once everyone began to become hysterical, and he could no longer think. He wanted to beg Yukiko to cast another spell but she had already casted so many. It was also only then he noticed how cold Yu was, his hands almost felt like ice and his breathing was significantly shallow even for a normal person sleeping.

When no one started to listen to one another Naoto was quick to grab their attention and listen to her. "Arguing isn't going to solve anything . We need to take him to the hospital immediately."

* * *

They had called an ambulance as soon as they had left the T.V world through a hollow tree trunk that had once been a stack of old T.Vs. Kanji had carried him out with him strung across his back. The ambulance arrived only a mere few minutes later, but by then they had drawn in a crowd of a few passer-bys. The fog was gone as she had said, not that anyone other than them would ever no that. Their leader was taken to the back of the van and the group had to resist prying the back doors open and going with them.

Instead they made their own way to the hospital by bus and as soon as they came in they demanded the number to Yu's room. The receptionist didn't look all that comfortable and was most likely going to say that she wasn't supposed to give that kind of information yet but Kanji managed to threaten her and she quickly went to the list and told them that his room was on the right side of the wing just a little ways down from where they were. He wasn't really the type to threaten hospital staff, but he really just needed to see his friend. 

Dojima must have gotten a call from the hospital because he was stood by the door and drove directly to there from the station, even on Sundays the man still had to check into the police sation, it was another reason why Yosuke never wanted to go into the crime department. He was talking to someone on the phone when they arrived and looked like he had a thousand questions on his mind when he saw the sight of them.

"What's happened? How did he even get like this, you were with him weren't you?" His voice was stern but filled with the growing hint of worry.

_They had found him but they weren't there when Yu was left alone in that place. What was he supposed to say when they knew almost as much as he did?_ All he could do was pull out the same lie he had told him many times over. 'They had been hanging around June's and he had suddenly passed out. He was clearly not happy with his answer but dropped it in favour of finishing his call. 

A few minutes later the man put his phone in his pocket. "I still don't know how this has happened, his mother never told me about any health problems and his medical record is almost completely clean. I've called his parents to let them know, they have apparently booked a flight over from America but it will still take some time before they get here. I've called Nanako to let her know that Yu won't be comi home today, though I haven't told her the reason why yet. I don't want to have her worrying in the house alone and it may be hours before he's allowed to take visitors. "

Yu's friends took a seat on the chairs in the corridor outside his room. There where only about half as many chairs as them and so some of them sat on the floor next to the chairs. It wasn't comfy by far but it would have to do. 

"...What do you think is wrong with him?" Chie said finally once Dojima had left to get them all refreshments and probably a smoke to relieve himself outside.

"More like what happened when we were out of it. What the the hell did that bitch 'Izanami' do to him!?" Kanji knew she was gone but that didn't mean he didn't want to beat her up again.

"He'll be able to pull through this, I'm sure of it." The black haired girl tried to reassure her friends, but mostly herself.

" Yosuke... You were the last one to see Sensei with her, what happened? "

"I... I don't know Ted. I don't know. "

It was nearly seven thirty by the time one of the nurses approached Yu's uncle and had taken him aside to discuss something. She gave the clipboard from under her arm and handed it over to him. He flipped through the pages reading them carefully and appeared to re-read them again. The nurse looked at him and Dojima nodded.

She turned to face the group of teenagers. "We have managed to make him somewhat stable. He's suffered from serve internal organ damage. The doctors have done everything they can but at this point in time he's mainly just relying on machines. We can't be too sure at his condition yet as we still don't know what has caused this. Right now it is up to him to fight. "

When Yosuke saw the sight of his best friend hooked up to so many wires and machines he couldn't help but let out a little whimper. This was so much worse than last year with Nanako and Dojima at the hospital. He had tubes coming out of everywhere and he had an oxygen mask across his face and it was then where he had thought briefly that his friend wasn't going to make it. 

He could tell his friends had similar thoughts.

Tears threated to fall but he knew it would only make his friends feel that much more worse. He tried to keep it together for them.

He took the chair by his side as he knew that they had left that one for him, even Rise didn't fight him for it. Maybe because they all knew how much more important their leader was to him. He was more than just his best friend, he was his partner.

His friends stayed for the next hour to be with him in the small room. There were many of them and some only just stood in the door way, only briefly moving when one of the nurses changed one of the drips. By the time it was nearly nine Dojima made them all go home because they couldn't sleep in the hospital and they had school the next day, not like any of them could care that much right now but they knew not to argue with him. However, Yosuke refused to move away despite the protests of his friends. In the end they left him and Teddie offered to tell his parents where he was. They told him to text him if something should happen and they gave him and Yu their farewells. He knew he was just being childish, but he just didn't care what anyone would think of him.

As soon as the door closed Yosuke turned to his friend. He looked so peaceful lying there, if it weren't for the mask and the beeping of the machines he would have never guessed something was wrong. He went to carefully grab one of his hands carefully to not pull out any of the wires and held it between his own. His hands were covered in scars and calluses from his katana but he still found them nice to hold, part of him wished he had held them sooner when he was awake so he could see how different it would be. He moved one of his hands to stroke one of his cheeks and move a tuff of hair out of his face. 

"Hey partner, I just want to thank you. Whatever you did saved us, and when you wake up we'll all have a party. I'll make sure to bring one of the cream cakes from June's Nanako likes so much, it's expensive but its worth it to see her smile. So that's why you need to get better as soon as possible okay, she'll miss you if you're not there. " _I'll miss you too, y'know._

He sat beside him until the days adrenalin wore off and the fatigue from the T.v and the late time on the clock took too much of him. He laid his head gently on his chest and watched the mask fog up every now and then after every rise of his chest and Yosuke fell asleep to the sound of his partner's heartbeat.

* * *

.

.

.

The first rays of the early morning light reached Yu's face and a small breeze made the curtains ruffle by the open window. He took a final shallow breath, and he was gone.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hopefully this chapter was okay, by the time I finished I was mainly running on fumes. I don't have any of the third chapter written yet so it's going to take three times as long to publish it because I'm really short of time these days. 
> 
> One of the main reasons why this took exceptionally longer was because I couldn't decide on a name for the new persona. I thought about just using Messiah at one point but I thought I should add something of my own. I looked for Minato's for inspiration but apparently telos means 'end goal' in Greek and it felt the most fitting compared to my other options I had made. The different orbs around him was supposed to represent the different elements in the game and I also just wanted to make him really colourful. I know the name is kind of long but oh well.
> 
> I promise there will be more of Yosuke/Yu in the next chapter.


	3. One Last Arcana

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The aftermath and their Answer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ayyee, I finally have the last chapter finished after all this time. However, I have a very good reason because this chapter is nearly twice as long as the last one. I've already tried to trim some of this down but most of it is still needed so the story makes sense. Rather than chapters, consider it as a three part story.
> 
> ####  Music: 
> 
> P4 Golden Just like the wind Instrumental  
> [ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uS7tObw1fZg]
> 
> ### :

Yosuke is happy, but only when he sleeps.

He sleeps for a long time, and even if he isn’t tired he’ll still try to lay down for as long as he could with his eyes closed.

He spends a long time in bed and he hardly ever leaves. Even the need to move or eat does nothing to even move him from its comforts. If he were hungry or his body ached he couldn’t tell anyway.

* * *

.

.

.

The feeling of harsh grips on his shoulder wakes him up before the sound of the machines do. He stands, but it is only when he is shoved by one of the doctors till his body automatically moves over so that they could work on him.

He wants to ask what they are doing to him at such an early time of the day, why they were making so much noise when the other patients are trying to sleep.

But he knows, he knows why even before he looks at the screen beside him.

His best friend was dying, and all he could do was stand and stare.

He couldn’t even bring himself to cry; he wasn’t supposed to die, Yu wasn’t supposed to die like this. He wasn’t dying, he was only supposed to be exhausted.

_“Sir, we’re losing him-_

* * *

Nanako was asleep on his lap as they sat on the couch together. He had never really had difficulty putting her to sleep before, she was a content child and she hardly ever complained about anything. The last time she had fallen asleep like this was when Chisato no longer greeted them by the door. To see her like this just broke his heart.

The two of them basically became inseparable with only just a few mere months. Dojima felt silly that he had once found himself jealous of his nephew over the fact that he thought that he was potentially replacing him, and that he had more time on his hands to play with her than he ever had. He felt that he had spent more time with her in a year than he had ever done in his life. He later came to find that he was not just replacing him and that his daughter still loved him just as much. He was her brother, and he was her father.

The only reason why Yu had ever found his way into his house was because his sister had reached out to him, something she had hardly ever done in a long time. He loved his sister, but sometimes he really wished she didn’t choose her husband over him. He remembered when they were a child, and his older sister would always talk about how much she wanted to leave the town. He could once agree with her; the town used to seem all the same to him, it was only merely cheap residential for those who worked nearby and there wasn’t an awful lot to do in a place like Inaba. He had spent a long-time training to be an officer and that he too would follow his sister and go somewhere better than Inaba could ever provide. He wasn’t a city person, but he at least wanted to live in a nicer place. However, shortly after he got his first job at the station Chisato fell pregnant with Nanako and so they never found the funds to leave. He once found himself thinking that one day she would leave him because she could no longer handle being so poor, but she never did leave him and told him that she would always remain by his side. Even when she was no longer here she was still with him no matter where she had gone. It was Yu who taught him that.

When he first saw his nephew at the train station he wasn’t so sure what to make of him. He loved his sister, he really did, but he couldn’t help but think that he had also picked up her ‘attitude’. She was a perfectionist and hated not being at the centre of attention, she loved the city and so he thought that her son would be the same in that retrospect. He thought that he would never like this town, so when he had brought it up in a conversation a long time back he was surprised that he actually wanted to stay. After everything he had done for him and Nanako he really saw him as family. He was no longer just a yearly picture he could hold in his hand or a distant relative, he found himself wanting to call him a son, after all, he was already her ‘Big Brother’.

He had for once let his daughter stay up and watch as many cartoons as she wanted to help her sleep. It probably wasn’t the best thing to let her do, but he wasn’t her brother, and he didn’t know how to comfort her like he could. Although he had never told her what was going on with Yu she could easily pick up that something was not right, especially after he failed to think of an excuse as to why he wasn’t coming home for quite possibly a while. She was smart, but also sometimes he swore that Yu had a Nanako radar and he wondered if it worked both ways.

He felt the buzzing of his phone in his pocket and quickly looked at Nanako’s face to see if she had woken up; she hadn’t. Carefully he reached into his trouser leg and retrieved his phone from within.

Getting a phone call so early in the morning was never a good thing.

* * *

It was only a small room at most, but it felt like the whole universe was inside it.

It seemed like everything was happening between its four white walls.

For a long time, it was just him and the constant moving around of the doctors and hospital staff. If he could turn his head and look he would see the odd wanderer in the corridor outside trying to look in. Inaba was small and so was the hospital and so if anything even remotely happened it was sure to draw in a small crowd no matter the time of day since hardly anything exciting happened while the bored patients were there, and dammit, he wasn’t just a cheap source of entertainment for them. He knew that the world and people where cruel, but he was only just beginning to realise how cruel they really were.

Eventually, Chie and Dojima were next to him, and soon all of their friends were there. At the same time he wanted to see them, but he also very much didn’t want them anywhere near him.

There were no more miracles for them. When they found a thin white sheet over him they finally began to realise that there was no undoing anything, that nothing could ever help them now, nothing they could do: Yu was dead.

And it hurt, it hurt so, so much.

There was no more pretending as they had done on the way over, that it was just some horrible mistake and only told that something had happened but not something like this. Only Yosuke and Dojima were not granted hope that he could still make it.

Eventually, when Yosuke’s eyes allowed it, he finally broke down to cry. Every heart wrenching sob he gave only made the others cry so much harder, to see him best friend cry so much for him. He didn’t and couldn’t care at that point because the only thing he could care for at that point was Yu. It was wrong and this whole thing was wrong. Because he had saved the world and everyone he had ever known, and the most selfless person to exist, so why was he the only one who wasn’t allowed to make it past the final day..?

If he could look, he would see Rise’s mascara running down her face and clinging on to Kanji’s shoulder, and he could only just bring himself to comfort her, but how can you comfort someone when you can’t tell them that everything will be alright? Yukiko and Chie stood by each other and Naoto held a weeping mascot in her arms, which was also just so wrong because she was never the type to hug anyone like that. He was grateful that Dojima was there because he knew he couldn’t bring himself to talk right now because he would just spill over whatever he had inside him, and even then it was already overflowing.

He just wished he could wake up, either Yu or himself.

…But this was reality, and reality is cruel.

* * *

“Chie..! Chie he’s- something’s happened..!”

The short brown-haired girl woke up to the sound of Yosuke sobbing down the phoneline, if this were another time she would have immediately killed him for waking her up so early, but this wasn’t another time, and it wasn’t like she’d be able to go to school anyway. She sat up to try and calm him down so she could at least understand whatever it was he was telling her but after a few more incoherent sobs she heard him hang up.

“YOSUKE, WHAT THE HECK?” She was annoyed that he had just hung up on her and a re-dial only presented her with the message that he had turned the phone off after that sudden call. She knew how hard it was for him, but she at least wanted him to tell her what was happening, and they had also agreed on it, but she knew that there was no getting through to him when he was being like this. Although she considered herself an optimistic person, when someone calls you with that little information it made her think the worst. 

She turned off the movie that was still playing on her T.v and went to her closet to pull out a jumper to keep her warm enough outside. She pulled the warm woolly item over her head and pushed her arms through. She made herself remember to grab her bag and went down the hall to tell her parents that she was heading out to the hospital to visit a friend, surprisingly they let her leave significantly early and didn’t question her even though visiting hours was not for a while.

The buses in Inaba didn’t run till later so she walked her way over instead. She had only gone a few streets down before a vehicle slowed down next to her. At first she felt uncomfortable, but quickly saw that it was only Dojima’s car and him in the driver’s seat.

He had lowered the window to talk to her as he recognised her as one of Yu’s close friends. “I’m guessing you don’t mind having a ride over, you’re going over there aren’t you?”

She nodded, and she certainly preferred a free ride rather than walking over herself. She opened the door and clambered inside. The ride there was quiet and neither made an effort to start any form of talk so they sat in silence and she started to wonder if she regretted her choice of accepting his offer, but she had to remind herself that she would most likely have stressed for even longer if she had taken any longer getting to the hospital. Though she couldn’t help but feel that the atmosphere in the vehicle was so heavy and suffocating, and although he didn’t show it, he looked about one stop away from… something? She knew Yu was important to him as he was to anyone, so she made herself promise that she wouldn’t look in his direction until they had arrived.

They were less nurses in the main building she noted and the two of them were led down a corridor, and eventually she found herself in the same hallway as the room she had only been in yesterday. She didn’t even need to be close to guess which room was his as many staff went in and out of a particular room, and she wants to tell herself that her gut was wrong and that she had only misremembered, and that Yu’s room never had that distinctive orange plant by the left side of his door.

Tears fell down her face before the emotions came and she never knew how much she had hated such a bland colour. She wanted to tell them that they were mistaken, and he was just fit and healthy only a day ago, but she couldn’t. She saw how pale the brown-haired boy’s eyes were and how his arms hung loosely by his sides, and it was only then she truly knew that this was really it.

_“Oh, god… Yosuke… I’m- I’m so sorry…”_

God, how much was he hurting right now? It felt so painful for her, but that would only mean that it felt that his whole world was ending. He had been there the whole time and she only hoped that he hadn’t suffered when he- when he left them. She just hadn’t been there and so she didn’t have to wonder if she had only been quicker to notice and call a doctor that he could still be breathing. Yet, she couldn’t help but feel jealous that it had been him who had stayed and not her, and how he had been able to become closer than she could have ever hoped to be. But he needed it, and who was she to prevent a friend that?

She had called the others on the way before Dojima had offered her a lift and they told her that they would be on their way. They had come surprisingly fast and after seeing Rise’s face first as soon as she neared the doorway she made sure never to look over again when she heard the door opening.

_‘What about then..? What if you had been quicker then so that this would never have even happened to begin with. What kind of officer of the law do you intend to be?’_

No, she would not think like that. Not now, not when her friends needed her the most.

* * *

“Yosuke… Yosuke at least eat something, you’re going to get very hungry, please..?”

It had been nearly two and a half days since and he had spent most of that time in bed. The most anyone could get down him was a glass of water at best and even then his throat refused to swallow most of it despite just how dry it was. Other than the odd bathroom break he almost never left his room. His family was really worried for him and kept begging him to at least do something, but eventually they decided that maybe he hadn’t had enough time yet. They were okay with him not going to school for awhile and his father still insisted on giving him an allowance even though he hadn’t been to work in days. At first when he found out that he and Teddie had abandoned work so suddenly and didn’t even contact him until hours later, and he was left with a large mess to deal with as they had become completely understaffed and had become furious, that anger all but melted when the blond-haired boy called him at nearly seven at night.

While he had never personally met his son’s friend, he had seen him numerous times in the store shopping or sometimes offering to help when things got particularly busy. It also helped that Yosuke and Teddie almost frequently talked about him on any and every occasion, so he found himself learning a lot about him. Whenever he found his son talking about him he could not help but notice he always seemed to be just that little bit happier, he would spend a long time talking about him whenever he brought him up, but then realise that he had begun to ramble on, and he would become slightly embarrassed and his mother only found it adorable. When they had first moved he hardly happy and he would instead only talk about how much he regretted coming to ‘such a washed down place’ and ‘how much better the city was’, even then he couldn’t remember seeing him as he had been throughout the year. It was why his wife often talked about planning to invite him over and thanking him sometime, she also wanted to get to know him better as well to see what kind of friend he was. From her son having almost no friends to many in such a short time after she was sure that it was unlikely that he would make any in their new hometown was really quite impressive and he must have really made an impression on him.

That’s why when his second son had called him up to tell them of their friend he could immediately understand why they would just drop everything to see him, though he would have at least appreciated a little time in advance rather than leaving him to wait many hours. When he had told him however that their friend was ill, he didn’t realise how sick he had actually become, and his wife couldn’t help but cry alongside her son and newly gained one as well. Although he genuinely felt sorry for him, he couldn’t help the darker parts of himself that he had to supress that kept telling him that he was taking this too far and that people lose each other all the time and he had even lost that other worker before that he pretended that his parents didn’t know about and even then he hadn’t acted out like this.

When he barely left his room Teddie made it so that he stayed as well. His mother kept telling him that all he needed was a little time and space, but after the second day he found himself staying longer and longer, and not just when he himself had to sleep.

“I’ll even left you have my last topsicle, it’s berry flavoured as well, I know you like that one. You don’t even need to eat dinner either, Yosuke.”

He knew he was being too cruel to Teddie as well because not only was he hurting but his friends as well. Not only was Teddie hurting from their lost, but he also had to deal with him as well, and that was not okay. He had even stopped making bear puns on Yosuke’s behalf, he often found them crude and annoying more often than not but now that he had it just felt so strange and never had he known how much he wanted to hear them again because he just wouldn’t be Teddie without them, and he didn’t want to lose him too.

“…I don’t want you to get sick either… so please… I really care about you… We all do.”

Of course he knew that, but sometimes he never felt worthy of his friends’ affection, and that was something that- that partner used to try and convince him otherwise. Maybe he did deserve to bask in a little bit of their friendship, but he couldn’t help but think what he really contributed to other than maybe a job or for paying for crap. However Yu had told him that being friends was not a give and take thing, and it didn’t matter if he ‘contributed or not’. But he was used to it, many people who he had once called a friend were only after his wallet or discounts at his expense, so when someone offers to be his friend, so it wasn’t unusual to automatically think that they were after something. Once he had given them whatever they had wanted from him, or that they finally realise that whatever they had wanted he couldn’t or wasn’t going to give it to them they usually slowly drop interaction with him. He often lost ‘friends’, but when that friend actually cared about him, he hadn’t.

Yu wasn’t his only friend either, everyone in the Investigation Team had became his friend, and that meant Teddie too. He had to remind himself that he wasn’t the only one who was friends with partner… this whole time the bear had been caring for him and Yosuke couldn’t do the same. All Yosuke had ever done for him was ignoring him and barely giving him more than a few worded answers. Teddie was never the one to hold back his feelings so much, but for him to forget about himself like that really made him realise just how selfish he was being. He couldn’t just ignore those sniffles in the closet that the bear so desperately tried to hide at night. He’d even begun to wear his costume even in the bedroom to cheer him up, but also to ‘secretly’ hide his own reddened eyes.

“…heh, you know what? Maybe I am a little hungry Ted. “

Teddie was a simple creature, though not as simple as some people may assume who didn’t know the real him. A small but hopeful smile crossed his face, and even though he was certain that it had partly been exaggerated. The bear quickly went downstairs most likely to retrieve the frozen treat from the freezer before he shortly returned with the item in hand.

He lent over the bed and handed him it, and he stretched his hand out to grab it. He couldn’t lie how nice it had felt once it had touched his sweaty hand. He opened it and started to slowly eat it. Although the thought of eating anything made him feel sick and nauseous the coldness on his throat really helped. However, it was kind of hard to think about even enjoying it when a certain someone was watching you the entire time.

“Huh? Oh! Sorry… it’s just that I’m glad your finally eating something. The others will be relieved to know. Like I said they really do care about you. You’re their friend too y’know.”

Now that he thought about it he had yet to realise how shaky his voice had been. It made him feel even more guilty. He still hadn’t even made an attempt to contact any of his friends either. He was sure someone came by at one point, but his mother had to tell them that he wasn’t taking any visitors at the moment when he refused to even open his bedroom door for anyone but Teddie, he could hardly talk to his parents either and that wasn’t fair on them. If someone had called him he wouldn’t know because he had turned his phone off days ago.

“I should probably go now; we’re going to go by Yukiko’s place for a bit. Spring term is coming closer so it’s going to get a lot more hectic so some of us are going to help out a little. She’s going to bring snacks too… do you want to come too?” the bear said a little optimistically.

_How could he forget that they have responsibilities outside fighting shadows? ‘Even if the sky should fall, tomorrow still comes.’_ He wishes time could stop, but it just doesn’t and right now that hurts more than anything.

He shook his head and Teddie looked slightly disappointed but understanding. However, as he tried to leave the room he grabbed onto his sleeve.

“I don’t really feel like going anywhere right now, but I don’t want to be alone either. Even if only for a few minutes, do you mind just staying for a little while longer? – I mean if you want to see them, that’s cool too. Getting out is a good thing for you. Don’t let me hold you back.”

It looked like another wave of tears were threatening the bear’s eyes, but he quickly gave a happy nod. “Of course, Yosuke!”

He slightly tugged on his arm and he eventually got the hit to move over to the bed. He was slightly hesitant to sit down as Yosuke used to always tell him off for going onto the bed, especially when he used to sneak in there at night and Yosuke would wake up in the morning annoyed and kicked him out. Teddie sat beside him but more to the edge of the bed than what Yosuke considered comfortable, and yet again Yosuke realised how much of a selfish ass he had been.

“… So, how- how have the others been?” Yosuke said eventually.

“Uhh, I guess as good as they could be right now.” Teddie said trying to think of something to say about their friends. “Rise is going to stay for a bit longer before going back to her career and Naoto isn’t taking anymore cases at the moment, but that was kind of expected though. Kanji got a new shipment of sample fabrics and he’s made these really cute mini plushies, y’know his handy work is getting way better recently, eventually he’s going to take of the store once he’s finished school. Oh, and Chie has rented these new movies that she let me watch yesterday. They’re not even kung Fu ones this time, can you believe that? We can go over to her house and watch it together; I mean I have seen them, but I was kind of sleepy then, so I don’t remember them too well. Hmm, Yukiko? She’s doing alright too, she’s even prepped some of the food in the Inn’s kitchen, and she didn’t even get any of the guests sick! Apparently she’s been getting help to improve her cooking skills, she says that ‘what kind of Inn worker doesn’t know how to make a good meal for her guests’. Eventually she says she wants to cook something for all of us, she’s definitely gotten better, but last time I was tricked into being her tester I don’t really think I can trust her… sorry Yukiko…” 

_‘I see… that was good to know.’_

“So, how’s Nanako been? It feels like ages since I last saw her.”

“She’s… she has actually held it all quite well considering her age. She was heartbroken don’t get me wrong, but she’s so mature and strong. Everyone’s been looking out for her. We even took her on a trip to Okina, she really liked that. I think she’s at Rise’s house right now, those two have been getting on quite well. She’s put on a brave face all this time, but I know she’s hurting a lot. However, she’s not as fragile as you think, she’s strong, we can pull through this. Dojima’s kinda taken it hard though, he blames himself for what happened. he’s been looking into what happened, but… well, the doctors still haven’t found an official cause yet…and they probably won’t be able to either…” By now he could hardly hold back his tears and they started to drip down his pale face.

Yosuke had to remind himself that before the two of them had met Teddie he was all alone. He couldn’t imagine the fear the bear must have of becoming alone again. Hell, if it were him he would be scared shittless at the thought. By almost instinct he pulled Teddie into a tight hug and held him close. he could hear Teddie sniffling much more sustained, and soon he found himself weeping all over again.

“I just- I just don’t understand, Ted…”

* * *

By the end of the week Yosuke finally found it in him to leave the house. However, that was mainly because of what day it actually was. Once they had finally agreed that it would be unknown beside from organ failure on his official record, they let his family take their son’s body and prepare for his funeral. His family decided that he would be cremated and a small headstone to be placed at the shrine, Inaba shrine he had to remind himself. He was glad that Yu’s parents decided that they would hold the funeral here rather than the city, because Yu loved it here and to be anywhere else just seemed so wrong. His parents had agreed to this place rather than the city because it was too crowded in the city and to place a headstone would mean it to be lost in the vast sea of monuments.

There would be a small gathering and the wake which was only for the family, and he tried to pretend it didn’t hurt as much as it did. He took longer to brush his hair in the morning than he usually did mostly because it had been awhile and he wasn’t exactly enthusiastic to go, but missing this would certainly feed into his long life of regrets, and he was probably sure he would have done the same…

Eventually a black suit found its way onto him that he didn’t even remember having and seeing Teddie in one too made him realise how dark suits really wasn’t Teddie, but still insisted that he looked ‘beary handsome in it’ before quickly realising him mistake, but Yosuke told him it was fine and he could make as many bear jokes as he wanted providing he didn’t become annoying, which granted him with a very large squeeze.

His parents drove him over and they had offed to come along with them, and it was times like this where Yosuke was really thankful of his parents. As he climbed up the steps towards the shrine he could see all of the group already there waiting for him. it almost made him cry all over again when he noticed that really it wasn’t whole group, and it couldn’t ever be anymore because one of them would always be missing.

At some point his gaze lowered and he saw the fox that sometimes followed them into the T.v with them. Honestly, it still puzzled him how it had even known when they would be meeting up and always seemed to know where Yu would be every time, the two of them had some weird bond between each other and Yosuke had always found that odd to be close to a stray animal like that. It was also smart enough to know what was going on when it saw all of them paying a visit to the Shrine. Foxes couldn’t cry but he was almost certain this one could.

The official funeral came and went, word was said, and candles lit in front of a casket. There were only a few lines of foldable chairs for the Investigation Team by Dojima’s insistence and for Partner’s family. For the first time Yosuke saw his parents who still looked obviously tired from their trip or maybe just simply for the lack of sleep. It was strange to see them like this without him because whenever he would ask about them he would always brush it off just like he did with anything that concerned him, and so he couldn’t help but think that he was invading his privacy.

…But then what did he actually know Yu? When he really thought about it hadn’t he’d been only talking about himself whenever they had hung out. If he needed a shoulder to cry on, or someone to reassure him, who was there when Yu needed someone to tell him everything will be okay? Other than the fact that he liked cats, fishing and origami there wasn’t much else he knew. Heck, now that he thought about it he didn’t even know when his friend’s birthday was. He had been so selfish and now there were so many things he would never know.

_‘Why… why had he only thought about himself?’_

_Now it was too late._

After they had left the others who was staying for the cremation, the group made their way over to the side of the building. A black headstone had been recently placed there with a gold inscription on the front. He knew it was silly, but he was the only one who refused to look at it. To do so would mean he would have to accept what was written on it.

“Hello again, Yosuke. I’m glad you’re looking a little better.”

Yosuke was the first to leave but he stayed long enough to say what needed to be said. Now, he was just lingering by the stairs for Teddie so he could just go home and rest for a little while. Naoto had followed suit not long after he had after she gave her blessing. Whatever he said was almost identical to the same speeches his friends gave. ‘We’ll miss you’, ‘It won’t be the same without you’, ‘I hope you are somewhere better now, Sensei’. It wasn’t the best, but it would have to do.

“Yeah, well I don’t think he would have wanted anyone to be like this. It would be wrong of me to let his life go to waste. I’ve been thinking and it’s kinda like he gave his live so that the rest of us could live, y’know. I don’t know what the last thing he was thinking of, but I like to think it was something along the lines like that. “. It was rare for the two of them to talk to each other without the others, but to be honest he didn’t seem to mind talking to her even though talking was one of the last few things he didn’t feel like doing right now.

Naoto nodded her head in agreement. “I see what you mean, I think it is better for us to think like that. He always made sure to look out for others. I’m still not sure what exactly happened, and maybe we wont ever, but because of what Senpai did less fatalities have occurred. It may not be the best outcome, but it is a good outcome and I think that’s what matters most.”

“Yeah I- I understand… but just- why did it have to be him? He’s done so much and-“ Yosuke took a deep breath so that he could speak clearer again “…It just feels like after everything he’s done, dying was his reward…”

_‘Why was everyone else allowed to live but partner?’_

He felt a heavy breath next to him that seemed to get stuck in her throat along the way.

“No, I- I think that his reward was knowing that all of his friends would be safe, that the people he cares so much about live on in his name. I don’t think that dying was the reward he was given.“

“Heh, of course it was. Naoto, I still don’t understand but I guess I can sort of understand what you’re saying. Its just I understand why he did it, but everything… it just seems so unfair.”

.

.

.

_‘I wish I could disagree with you… Yosuke.’_

* * *

She had looked everywhere for the spare stapler in her draw, bag and just about all the places in the classroom. Much to her annoyance she had pulled the spring back to far while sampling the recent essays she had assigned her students when one of the staples got stuck when it wouldn’t go through a particularly big wad of sheets.

She really didn’t want to go to the other class next door, especially with that other woman inside, who she may or may have not gotten into a minor argument with. But she knew that she would most likely have to because she also may or may have not forgotten to mark them and was spending the early hours of the morning doing so before most of the other staff and students arrived. She really couldn’t stand her, first it was about her new car and then she was showing off pictures of her and her daughter going on a cruse together. It was obvious she was a gold digger because no one on a teacher’s salary could afford all of the things she had, has everyone forgot what true love these days even was. Sometimes she felt like she was the only sane one left in that staffroom.

_Just her luck._

Before she could suck up her own pride and go next door the door of her classroom started to open and so Kashiwagi looked over from her stack of papers to watch the door handle move downward to give way to the person on the other side.

It was her homeroom student representative; and with him he brought a single white lillie.

She could only watch in horror as he passed by the rows of tables and chairs, and eventually made it to a particular desk, standing before placing it down on the old worn-out surface.

_Suddenly she knew that seat would be empty until spring._

* * *

They had started going back to school again apart from Yosuke who had been burying himself inside his room, who they only knew still existed because of Teddie being their messenger since he had stopped replying to their calls. Today a small ceremony and announcement would be made by the school to ensure that because of certain events of last year there had not been another repeat. The actual funeral was to take a few days later, but since it was only for a select few it allowed his other friends to say goodbye on their own terms.

To most it was well known that something had happened and fewer had their suspicions on what that something and who it was most likely about. That’s why when the Head Teacher gave his speech some weren’t completely shocked, especially when it appeared that the ‘all-tough’ Kanji had unusually red eyes and hay-fever wasn’t exactly ‘likely’ in late winter. Plus seeing him in a group with others similarly experiencing the same condition wasn’t a dead giveaway.

_“A well-loved student of 2-2 had recently deceased, may I clarify that it was of sudden illness, and not because of the illegal activities that you know have occurred locally._

_We would like to clear all uniformed students from rumours that may potentially spread, and we would like to ensure you all that you are safe as that incident has already been dealt with by the hands of the police who have introduced new policies and procedures who have and will continue to protect you-”_

_._

_._

_._

_‘If only they knew the truth…’_

_“-Please remember that staff will be on hand for those who need any help and support, class will resume as normal after second period-“_

_._

_._

_._

_‘Then again who would believe them..?’_

_._

_._

_._

* * *

Kou had been running late to school that day after he slept through his alarm. His mother told him that he needed to stop training so late in their backyard, but they had another game against Gekkoukan high school and Yasogami couldn’t afford another humiliating defeat by that rich snobbish city school. He had even managed to convince the finance department to get ‘actual basketballs’ and not those cheap rubber ones that dared to call themselves the same, he would like do think it was down to his amazing charms, but he wasn’t ignorant enough to not also think that maybe it was most likely because they had grown tired of hearing him complain, either way it was a win-win for the team.

He had also just gotten his allowance early from his parents much to his luck after last week’s cold. With it he decided that he would pay for Daisuke and Yu at Aiya’s this time, and with his luck this week he might even be able to gain the courage to invite Chie along too. He would have celebrated with his basketball team instead, but there was no way he would be able to pay for enough food to be delivered to the clubroom, plus he was certain that not all of the club members were enthusiastic as he was. No way he would be embarrassing himself this time.

Sometimes he regretted the fact that he had yet to invest in a bike, but he was able to get there in time with more minutes spare than he had expected. At least he thought he did.

When he got to his respective classroom it was completely empty even though he was certain that they would at least be a handful of students in the homeroom. When he briefly glanced through the other classroom doors they too were empty. Now that he had thought about it didn’t he bang his watch on one of the walls when he had been running to the bus stop? He must have screwed up the mechanisms inside or accidentally changed the display time, and not just a surprise gym lessons their teacher had imposed on them during homeroom like he had done before; just because he loved basketball did not mean he liked all sports. He also doubted it was a snow day because there had only been a few flakes at most and the school had always been so adamant in keeping open.

A short time later the school nurse noticed a student wandering in the second-year corridor and directed him to the sports hall. She had told him that the Head Teacher was holding an assembly for the whole school which he didn’t normally do until the last week of school before Spring break, but he guessed that they must have moved the third year’s graduation ceremony a bit earlier this year, which his middle school had done before so it wasn’t exactly unusual, but he would have at least liked to be told in advance, but then again he did have as bad habit of skipping over the school bulletins.

He had been able to make it by the time he was finishing his speech, ‘something about keeping safe or whatnot’ as if they didn’t know that already. Since Daisuke was fairly tall he was able to spot him in the back of the hall quite easily.

He silently moved through the large room so he wouldn’t be caught by the teachers at the side of the room and tell him off for being late again. He still had the remnants of his cold and cleaning a dusty classroom didn’t sound too appealing. Deciding it would be better for him not to call him out he made his way over to his friend’s class to stand next to him. When he placed a hand on his shoulder the other boy turned his head to face him and Kou couldn’t help but notice his face was unusually pale.

“Psst, Hey, you feeling alright man?” the blue-haired boy whispered to him. “I hope I didn’t get you sick, it looks like you’ve seen a ghost or something.”

“…”

“Hey man, you’re really not looking so hot.”

He looked away from his best friend and instead choose to look around the room instead. Everyone just looked a tad too glum for a safety speech, he also noticed that some even had obviously been crying and the odd person leaning on someone else was a little too over the top for a crappy new school policy- and he also noticed when he heard the old man walk away from the stage most still continued to look forward even though so many would have been eager to talk about the latest school gossip or T.v show they had seen.

Hesitantly he followed their gaze with his and he saw the small photo of Yu the clothed table.

_…No it couldn’t be-_

* * *

It had been awhile since that young man had been at the day-care centre. Her son had grown to like him and so had many of the other children there. She hoped he would be back soon.

* * *

Honestly, Yosuke didn’t want to go to his lessons that day, but he knew that he wouldn’t have much longer before he would no longer be excused by the school. Plus he already had missed so many days over the year and he knew that his already poor grades were most likely suffering a lot. It also didn’t help that there were only a few weeks at most before the end of the academic year, so he hardly saw the point in coming, but if it made the others even just a little bit happier then he guess he considered it a little less pointless.

Still, he was in no mood learn about literature and modern politics, and the space in front of him only made him feel sick. If the teacher noticed he had worn his headphones throughout the lesson they didn’t say anything.

.

.

.

“I wonder how that even happened.”

“I know right, he looked perfectly fine the last time I saw him. Aww, and I had finally worked up the courage to put that letter in his locker-“

Yosuke stood by his locker trying to fumble his shoes on and balance his hoodie and bag in his other hand. He hadn’t even noticed that he had forgotten to bring lunch with him, but it turned out that Yukiko had brought from the Amagi Inn leftovers from the kitchen that the staff had let her take with her. Apparently she had been worried that he had been losing a lot of weight lately so to reassure herself and the others she had packed a few extra containers for their friend. He had been so hungry lately that he couldn’t even care about his previous statement of ‘never eating any food she would ever possibly give her, even if she hadn’t even made it herself’, even if that meant that he risked potentially being poisoned. Surprisingly, the food had tasted even better than he had imaged, even though he had already believed that she hadn’t made it herself, and a part of him wondered if they were actually leftovers at all.

“You were going after him? I thought he was already dating someone-“

It was cold when he stepped out onto the grounds and past the school gates he tugged on his hoodie and told Teddie that he wanted to go on a walk for a little while to clear his head. Without going to June’s there really wasn’t an awful lot of places one could go to. It was quite cold actually, but the sky was only partly cloudy. He wondered if anyone still remembered how thick the fog used to be.

Even though he promised himself that he would wait a while before going back he eventually found himself making his way over to the Samegawa on instinct. There was a time where the riverbank was one of the places he liked to get away, to get away from the jabs and jeers of his classmates, his longingness for the city and the stress from all his responsibilities that school and work had ever given him.

Now, it only reminded how lonely he was.

If he closed his eyes he could see all of the times he and partner had spent here. He remembered the first time the two of them walked through here with each other and Yosuke felt needed for once when it was him to show the new transfer student around town, though he was plenty sure it would be easy for someone to learn the layout quite easily on their own. It had also been the place where he had cried on Yu’s shoulder, and a first time in a long time since he had been hugged by someone, probably the first time who hadn’t been family; it had been embarrassing at the time to let anyone see him so vulnerable, but it had felt nice to know that someone had cared so much about him. 

Whenever he was bored he would spam the other grey-haired boy with text messages until he was able to get the other to hang out with him. The other had always been so busy and no doubt he had many other friends and half of them Yosuke was sure he hadn’t met before, but he had heard some names from him in passing, plus it was often normal for Yu to be working at three different part-time jobs in the same week to pay for supplies that Yosuke now wished he had helped with more but hadn’t. To get any of his time was a huge accomplishment in Yosuke’s books and so whatever time they had spent with each other had always been that little more special when it was just the two of them.

Even though he knew that Partner had so many bonds with others Yu still made sure to check up on Yosuke almost frequently and still seemed to choose to accept Yosuke’s invitations to hang out more often than everyone else, and he had also noticed that after a particularly tough battle partner would be the first to heal him.

He was his best friend, and now he was gone.

Everything they had once done together will no longer ever happen, all the plans they had made each other after high school won’t ever happen, he could no longer cry or laugh, and Yosuke would no longer be able to congratulate Yu when he got married or be his best man, or even just to thank him for everything he had ever done for him.

They had also had their first fight here where they slugged it out and became equals that day, so why was it that Yu had gone ahead of him?

He thought about the very last time it was just the two of them together with the rest of the world so far away before it had stolen him away and Yosuke had been so happy just to sit beside him and watch the sun go down with his best friend without a care in the world. If only he knew at the time that it would probably be their last too.

He missed him. he missed him so, so much, everything about Partner. He missed his calm soothing voice and the words that shaped it, the little things like the little origami swans and other odd trinkets he would leave on his desk with no other explanation other than a shrug, and Yu’s warmth as he held Yosuke close to him. if only he could feel his arms around his waist just one last time.

It was a strange thing for someone like him to want from his best friend, but he did, and he would always make Yosuke feel so warm and safe. The way he made his face flush like it did whenever he was close and how he wished that he had never ended that hug-

The way he had made Yosuke fall in love with him.

_…He had fallen in love with him..!?_

The way his face would light up and the way he had always found him more jealous than he should when Yu had chosen to hang out with someone other than himself- and he couldn’t even deny it anymore. The pain, the grief, the way it had hurt him so much worse made so much more painful sense.

And the worst thing was that he couldn’t tell him because he was too late.

Damnit!! … And he only had himself to blame, if he had stopped worrying about what other people had thought about him he could have given him one last hug that he pretended that he never wanted after that time, one last embrace he knew that no one else would ever give him again. That time he had shared partner’s coat; he was no longer protected by the cold wind that touched him even through his winter uniform.

_Now he couldn’t even say ‘goodbye’._

Yosuke thought he was done with crying, but it turns out he still had plenty left to give. He sunk to his knees on the icy wet grass and wrapped his arms around his waist to weep.

He tried not to think how similar this bank was to that riverbank where they had found their friend so cold and lifeless.

* * *

_._

_._

_._

_He had caught nothing but goldfish; he wondered if that grey-haired boy would trade them for some trout._

* * *

He heard the quiet sound of a trombone on the last day as he wandered through the halls of the Practice Building. Yosuke had been sent on an errand to deliver a post-it note about a student’s course work to one of the offices. With the Investigation officially over Yosuke was left with an ungodly amount of spare time and he couldn’t help but wonder how he had most of that time in his first year. He’d been meaning to go to Okina for a while to pick up some new video games from the game store near the train station. He had been keeping track of the recent releases for a while, but he had rarely found time with his many shifts and battling shadows to balance any of them in his schedule. He had been picking up shifts at June’s again, so he felt that maybe it was okay to slack off once and awhile during his break and play a few of them. Apparently Chie had convinced Naoto to hold a study session and help them go over and organise their notes before the next year.

Yu used to have a few neat games on his bedroom shelf even though he had hardly played them. They had offered to give them to him when the group, minus Yosuke, had helped Dojima and his parents clear the spare room in the Dojima residence, but he refused to accept to take anything of his. What was on his shelf belonged there, he had come to that conclusion a long while ago when partner had asked for his help to pack up for the city, and while he didn’t want him to leave he still accepted to help their leader and had even brought along some boxes from the June’s storage room during their last study session. Other than the odd wristband and phone strap nothing much else was taken, instead his clothes and other trinkets were boxed up for donation. They also had too quickly stash the bag of money in his dresser so that his uncle would not find it, because explaining why he had nearly half a million yen stored away in his room wouldn’t exactly be easy to explain to a detective. They agreed that they would slowly give way that money as well in inconspicuous instalments, because keeping that money would just seem wrong when they knew who had contributed the most, however they agreed to keep just a small amount of their team funds for a group trip to the beach in the summer just like they had done the year before during their summer break.

Yosuke found himself at the door to the music room where they had practiced for Rise’s performance and they were granted permission to use it so they could prepare, though honestly at the time he had thought it would have been a bigger flop but luckily it still somehow worked. When he open it he found that there was still someone using the club room. He remembered seeing her before and had recognised her as being apart of the music club. She quickly put down her trombone to face him.

“I’m sorry, do you need something..?”

Yosuke rubbed the back of his neck; he had no idea why he had even opened the door in the first place. “Ah, no I just heard someone playing in here is all, its nothing important, really. I’m not disturbing you am I?”

She shook her head. “No, not really. I’ve mainly just been tuning this up, I thought it would be better to do it now while I’m still here.”

“So you, err… play the trombone, huh? You’re actually quite good.”

“Thank you, I’ve practiced a lot.” A blush briefly filled her face. “…Errm, so do you play anything yourself, errh…” 

“Hanamura.”

“I’m Ayane Matsunaga, it’s nice to meet you.”

Rather than standing at the doorway, he made his way further inside the club room and closer to her seat by the window. “I sometimes tinker with my guitar, I wouldn’t say I was half bad at it, but I don’t think I would ever be able to play professionally if that’s what you mean.“

“…But do you want to?”

He had thought about it, even suggested it before but he had always been told it was a dead-end dream at best for most. “Maybe..? I don’t know. You probably already know my father, he wants me to do business or somethin’ with I graduate, you have to be like an expert if you want to make a living out of music, but it’s not like I haven’t considered it before. It would be pretty cool wouldn’t it? Still , he is paying for my tuitions though.”

“I think if you really want to do it, you should go for it..! …I mean that’s what someone told me before. He used to listen to me practice sometimes after school too. I used to not have that much confidence because I wasn’t very good, he would be my audience for me so that I could get used to playing in front of large crowds. I really wanted to be musician, but I kept telling myself that I wasn’t cut out for it, but he said that it you set your mind to something there’s no way that you won’t be able to achieve your dreams only if it’s even its not exactly what you pictured it to be. 

That’s why because of him I’ve decided to study abroad once I finish school, I-“ Suddenly her voice lowered, at first Yosuke thought it was because she had become embarrassed for talking more than she would have normally done, especially to an almost stranger, but he also saw another different emotion run through her expression. “Also, because if I do this it will feel like Narukami-san will be living on through me, after all he was the one to inspire me to carry on playing.”

“…Wait, you knew him..?!” he hadn’t remembered Yu being apart of the band before, it was the first time he was hearing this. Then again he probably had mentioned her before when he had been confining to him about his own problems. 

“Yeah… he joined the drama club, so he passed by hear a lot, you know just like you he had wandered into the music room and wanted to listen to me play… well I didn’t know him as well as Yumi had since they were apart of the same club, but I consider him one of my friends.”

“Ah, so it looks like you’ve noticed me then.”

From behind he saw a mature-looking student appear from the doorframe and she smiled at him and the shorter girl. “She’s right you know, before him I was sure that she would have ended up quitting after the end of the year, and that would have been a real shame. I’m glad you didn’t.”

“But didn’t you quit the drama club though..? You used to love the theatre..!” after realising her little outburst she lowered her head again and moved her body closer to the window.

The black-haired girl, Yumi instantly shook her head. “Well, yes and no kinda… Sure I really loved the whole theatre thing and all, almost always have done. Hell, I practically would have become a tyrant if Yu hadn’t intervened, but I realised that I had something even more important that I had to do. Y’know I also used to really hate my father, a lot, but after he got sick it was only then I started thinking about him again. “ she let out a small sigh, “It used to be really hard for me to talk about my father but now I can talk about him without even stuttering, isn’t that something?”

She smiled at him again before looking over at Ayane “Hey, you should ask him to join yours. You could certainly do with new members after the graduates left, you can never depend on these newcomers can you? So what do you say music boy? I’m sure she’s dying for some company right about now-“

“Hey, don’t pressure him like that, Yumi..! I mean… we’re more of a symphonic band, but we’ve been looking at widening our play style to attract more members, you see band isn’t exactly everyone’s first choice.”

After their almost concert disaster he wasn’t so sure he could bring himself to playing his guitar other than at his house. Of course it was like of Partner to help almost everyone he saw, in fact he couldn’t remember a time when he had outright rejected helping anyone. Honestly it was kind of sicking how nice he was, but that was partner for you. After the slack everyone had given him about being the ‘Prince of June’s’ he was kind of put of joining any clubs.

“Thanks, I’ll try to think about it.”

* * *

He had finally found the print-off that his teacher had given him, it had gotten trapped in one of the pages of his many notebooks. He still couldn’t believe there was a time that he used to carry so much more around with him. It was thanks to his after-school tutor Shu had realised there was more to living than just petty grades.

One of the staff at June’s dropped of a small plate of skewers next to him. he wished he could have shared these with him, after all he was the reason why he had friends now.

* * *

Ai sat down on the stool by her dresser and opened her pink flowery curtains. She was bored almost as school was let out on the first day of their Spring break. she had gone through almost all of her old magazines and the T.v shows she had downloaded couldn’t do more to interest her. It was times like this when she hated having too much time on her hands.

When her room was nothing but quiet she couldn’t help but think too much, and she hated that because all she could do was think about a certain someone. Out of all the people in the world it just had to be him. He had done so much to help her to see herself as she truly was without having to hide behind every cheap fad that came her way so that people would love her.

She also couldn’t help regretting the way she had treated him during his time here, she had done nothing but use him. Even though she had apologised for her actions, and that he clearly had forgiven her the guilt she had still remained. It didn’t help that he had forgiven her so easily and what was worse it didn’t even look like was mad in the first place. She just wished he had hated her a little more so that she didn’t have to feel like she had taken advantage of someone so kind.

He had passed away from sudden illness, but she couldn’t help but wonder if it had been going on for longer. What if he had been in pain and she had failed to miss it because all she could do was think about herself? What if she unknowingly made his sickness worse...?

She left her bedroom and tried to forget the pictures in the top draw in her old shoebox.

* * *

When she had heard the news for the first time she couldn’t help that feeling that she had failed as a nurse. What kind of nurse was she if she couldn’t spot that boy was suffering from some kind of illness that had taken him away from his family..?

She promised that she would not let another person pass through her hands again.

* * *

She had her daughter drive her back to the town she had called home sometime after she had heard of a certain person’s passing. Her daughter had been hesitant at first at her returning to the small town because of all the memories she had shared with her husband here but eventually she managed to persuaded her to drop her off for the afternoon despite being quite hesitant. But she had promised her that she wouldn’t get lost in the nostalgia again, if she did she would have lost her mother again.

She had found the boy’s headstone quite easily in the shrine’s grounds. It was because it was the only one to have that many flowers and gifts placed beside it. They had done a good job of making it look nice for the boy who she had once considered as a grandson. As much as she cared for him she had always found him so odd yet so intriguing. It wasn’t often that a young boy his age would spend so much time with someone as old as she was. She couldn’t be more thankful though for him to give her an ear. She placed the small bundle of flowers by his gravestone and moved to sit on her usual bench which she had not done so for a long time. Usually most people would just walk by her but he had stayed and had listened to her stories about her late husband. When she was with him it felt like her husband was alive and living again in front of her.

That’s why it had come as such of a shock to hear that he was no longer with everyone. The last time she had saw him he looked so fit and well, she guessed a lot can happen in such a short time. She had seen so many funerals in her life and had lost so many friends and relatives, but she had at least thought that he would have outlived her. But she did not try to weep for him as much for him as she had done for her husband because he had been the one to teach her that she had to keep moving on. He had been the one to let her live again even when he could not.

As she sat on the bench she saw another young boy approach the masses of flowers. He kneeled down and placed his offering among the others. She had seen him by the shrine many times before, not for him but for another marking that had belonged to his sister. He had come here so many times before to see her so to see him at another was an odd sight. For someone so young to lose two people he had cared about less than a year apart must have been really hard on him. She hoped that he would not be as alone as she had once been.

* * *

Yosuke took a noon train to Okina city to pass sometime, but also to excuse himself of not doing any revision. He was never really good at studying but at least he had Yu to help him with whatever he found difficult. They would spend the time normally at his house rather than his because every time they did go over to his Teddie would always bombard them with questions. He knew he meant well, but being a human was still a relatively new thing for him so every tiniest thing would always peek his interest even if it wasn’t at the best of times.

Teddie used to beg for them to take him to school and Yosuke couldn’t help but feel kind of bad for him, so often he found himself putting up with him when he tried sneaking around the place. Actually what even was his academic ability..? in fact he didn’t even know how he knew some of the things that he did, he just put it down to him picking up stuff from the other side, that place was heavy influenced by humans after all.

He had been to pretty much every shop by now, even if he hadn’t bought anything, mainly just looking around to see if Teddie would like any of the stuff they had. He would have invited him along with him, he was going to, but apparently he was already going to the Tatsumi’s to help with a special bonus sale they were having there to clear some of the nice dresses they had made for white day. Not like he had remembered it anyway because he didn’t have a single girl to give back to other than complementary chocolate from some of the girls in their group. Partner got a fair few gifts from Valentine’s, in fact nearly all the girls Yosuke knew had wished him a happy valentine’s day at least. He hated to admit but at the time he thought he felt really jealous of him getting so much chocolate, but now he realised it was probably more to do with the fact that he thought that if he went out with one of the girls he would have less time to spend with him, and he didn’t want some girl to just take him away like that. 

“oh! Hey, Yosuke! Didn’t think I would have found you here today.” From his left he saw Rise approaching him along the path with both hands filled with shopping bags.

“Though I’d do a bit of rearranging and replace some of my old stuff, you know what they say about a cluttered room. So what are you here for if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Just… to collect reorders and stuff, pretty much done for the day. I was about to catch the next train.”

A small grin crossed the pink-haired girls face and her mouth upturned slightly. “so am I, hey if you have time why don’t we get something to drink, it feels like ages since the last time I got to talk to you. Come on, it will even be my treat.”

A part of him wanted to say no as he really didn’t feel like hanging out with the girl right now for a reason he did not know why. However, she had already begun walking over to the small café so it would have been rude of him to decline, the old him would have been jumping at the opportunity but now he just had no interest in that anymore.

He finally settled with some lemonade and had paid himself despite her protest as she settled with some overly sweet coffee that almost made his pancreas hurt just looking at it. Although he had never gone to this place before he had used one of the vending machines nearby one certain hot day while they were hanging out, so he had a good look at their menu. They mostly had talked about their plans for the summer and what they were going to do for their spring break, but other than that he had hard times trying to hold up a conversation with her. 

“Just so you know, if you’re having any hard times… you know you can always talk to me right.” She had been stirring her straw and looking into the swelling abyss it had left behind.

With the sun being the highest at lunchtime he could see her reddened eyes much more clearly. While she had said she wanted them to talk more he could help but get the feeling that she had been avoiding him recently. It wasn’t because she had hated him but rather every time she saw him she would be reminded of their leader because the two of them used to be with each other the most, so to see him without their friend made it much more obvious that he was a million miles away from them. He knew that she really had loved him too, that much was known by most. Yosuke still didn’t know why he hadn’t gone out with her. They would have been such a lovely couple together. He was amazing and she was cheerful and sweet, and most of all, a girl. Much better than the two of them. He never stood a chance to begin with. And what’s more is that he still needed to apologise to Kanji for making fun of the fact that he ever questioned his own sexuality to be honest if he really did swing that way or not he really couldn’t care less now.

It wasn’t her fault that she had loved him too and that she was way better than him in all of those respective categories, but he still couldn’t help but feel jealous of the way she could so confidently grab Partner by the hand in front of so many. Given the chance he would have done the same thing on the spot right now in front of all of the passer-by’s. Heck he wished he could announce to him right now on this very spot that he had loved him so, so much even though he would certainly be rejected by him. but he was never cruel; he would let him down gently and Yosuke would be able to move on from him quickly. He would support him and his future wife and when they start a new family would be their amazing uncle and tell them all the amazing stories about Yu in his younger years and his time in Inaba.

“Yeah, don’t worry, I’ll be fine. I promise I’ll call you if I need anything. We should probably go back now; the train is leaving soon.”

She smiled, but somehow she wasn’t very confident in his answer.

* * *

It was only then when he had actively been stocking the more bizarre items by request that he had stopped selling them much to his annoyance. The same thing happened to him last time as well.

Well that’s what happens when you rely on teenage customers who have ever changing fads and hobbies. It will be hard to shift these expensive charms and supplements now.

* * *

.

.

.

21st March.

He had almost forgotten about what day it was. In a tired like state he went to look at his calendar that he had dumped on the floor for a reason to check which days he was working and what time his shift was starting. Its black markings taunted him from the paper.

He was supposed to be going home on that train today.

Yosuke had been made to believe that after helping him pack his partner would be leaving Inaba and that he and his friends would be waving him a farewell at the stain station. They were supposed to send him off and that he would come back on golden week to come visit them and Nanako, he was supposed to visit them during their summer break and Christmas eve too. It was only supposed to be for the year; he would help Yosuke get better and get into one of the Colleges with him close by in Tokyo and he would come to him in the city to live together… He had made that promise with all of them, why did he have to break it?

It took him a little longer to get to work that morning even though he had left work much earlier considering the time that he normally shows up that the store. As he opened his door he felt the cold winds rushing through him once again. The trees he walked by on the path were bare and still had the light frosting of snow on their branches, it looked like the blossoms will be late this year. Another reason why they couldn’t go see them together.

Ever since then, just like all the other days, the skies were clear, and people made their way to work as usual. It seems like fog was only just a story way from them now, although no one talked about it anymore he wondered if people even still remembered the thing that caused them the thing that had caused them so much pain.

Two and a half hours later he found himself in the break room with the other part-time staff consisting of mainly older women which always made it harder to enjoy the time between his shifts. Teddie had joined him in there a short time later with his mouth shoved full of brioche and another volume of that manga he had been borrowing from that new part-timer girl who looked like she had just finished middle school at best.

.

.

.

His phone went off signalling the end of his break. after finally making him break off his conversation with that new girl, Yosuke pulled Teddie along with him so they could go restock the vegetable section before helping out with changing the layout of the dairy section in the freezer aisle. When they got to the stock room they had found that the door had been locked.

“Hey..! barging that door isn’t going to make it open, and even if you did, it means that you’ve broke the lock off, so knock it off! I’ll text dad to let him know that we can get in, some idiot must have locked again by mistake.”

Honestly he didn’t see why his father couldn’t just give him a key to the room, but he didn’t so instead he sent him a message to see if someone could open it so he could get on with his long shift and be done with it. The two of them waited for several minutes and still had not gotten a reply so he decided to go find him. At this time he would most likely be in his office, so he meandered through the many rows of shelfs towards his fathers office. When he tried to door he had also found it locked just like the stock room had been. 

_That’s odd._

“Maybe he had stepped out for a little, Yosuke.”

He probably had done; work was sometimes stressful when you have to manage the entire store on a daily basis. Plus he was still certain that his father still had been sneaking cigarette breaks even though he had promised his mother he had stopped smoking because she didn’t want him to wreak his lungs. However, when he tried to go through the staff exit he found that door had been closed too. 

“What the hell Teddie..!? Who the heck had closed every god damn door!?”

He could tell that Teddie was starting to get anxious and in return it made him feel uneasy. “Maybe something has happened! What if June’s in under attack and they have to lock the doors to keep the person out, what if this is a heist!?”

“What? No way. I think they just had to close for some reason and didn’t tell us.” Now that he looked around he couldn’t see anyone in the store, not even the workers. “lets just try all of the exits, there’s at least several of them so there’s bound to be at least one that someone had forgotten to close.” Yosuke often found himself having to check all of the doors whenever he worked in the evenings because the workers had a tendency of leaving them open half the time after a wild animal had gotten into the snack section and had devoured almost all of it.

After finding all of the doors locked they decided to try the main customer doors at the front the June’s building. However, when the two of them finally reached the last set of doors Yosuke could see them but it had large glowing cracks of gold light and were several feet wide. As he hesitantly moved closer and glanced down he wasn’t even sure he could see the bottom.

“Wha…!? What is this Yosuke?”

“How the heck am I supposed to know!? This shit shouldn’t even be possible at all, we’re not in the T.v, only something like this happens there and we stopped all crap weeks ago remember?” Because something like this was just not possible.

Teddie shook his head. “…No. No I don’t understand..? It smells beary strange in here.

“Yeah, no shit it does.” Okay, Yosuke had to think. He was locked in a building and they can’t get out and- _HOLY SHIT THE CRACKS WERE MOVING CLOSER..!_

“CRAP, TED! JUST RUN! “

Although they weren’t rapidly moving Yosuke wanted to get the hell out of that place as quick as he could because he didn’t know how fast it could actually go and he didn’t want to stick around and find out, especially when he couldn’t see the bottom of it. As they dashed away from it they subconsciously agreed that their best bet was to go to the large T.v at the back.

“OH, SHIT..!”

As he looked he could see that they were separated from the T.v by another one of those weird cracks in the ground. “Now what do we do..?”

From behind Yosuke felt something touch his back and as he turned to slug it one and run he saw a familiar and very green jacket. Behind her he could see the rest of the group crowded into the electronics department.

“Geez, calm down will ya?” Where the heck have you two been?“ 

The two of them were so confused.

“wait, so can you guys even see those weird things all over the floor..!?”

Chie blinked once. “huh? Oh, yeah that. Yeah we can totally see them.”

“How the heck are you so calm then?” She could be really unaware of situations sometimes, but this really took the cake for her.

As he asked her that Naoto decided to answer him instead. “That’s because panicking does us no good, it only serves as a means hinder our thoughts.”

“Yeah, plus we sorta panicked out ages ago anyway… We were just going about our usual stuff and then-“ she slammed her fist into her right palm “BAM! We ended up here instantly and we’ve been trying to find out way out since.”

However, as confident as she tried to make herself appear it was clear that she was actually very worried, as did the rest of the group, in particular Rise looked the most distressed.

“We decided that we should go check out the T.v to see if that was the problem but when we got here we couldn’t get to it because the store has been pulling itself apart. But we had this strange feeling and just by chance I was able to summon Kouzeon.”

“Wait, but it’s impossible to summon your personas here, we tried that before remember?”

Rise frowned at his words. “Exactly. That’s why I thought that we had somehow found our way into the T.v world but we hadn’t because the T.v world is still on the other side of the screen; however it also doesn’t feel like we are where we normally are. It like… We’ve fallen down a crack in between them or something.”

_So what were they tapped here or something?_ He had no idea what she was on about but for him there were only two places he knew about. He wanted to get out as soon as possible before they had to deal with anything more. They had put that part of their lives behind them. They had only just gotten back to their lives; they shouldn’t have to go through this again.

“Yeah, that must be why my nose was picking up something weird. It feels like both of those places at the same time yet if I catch the air just right I can smell people on other side of that door.” Teddie said as he was relieved that his sense of smell hadn’t been going.

Kanji scratched the back of his neck. “But what do we do now then if we can’t leave? Do we just wait for it to go back to normal or..?”

“I’ll try scanning the area again to see if I can’t find anything else to help us, two people are better than one after all.” Her persona appeared once again and Teddie stood along beside her as they surveyed the area.

Only after a short amount of time Rise spoke up behind her visor. “..!? There’s away up to the food court now! When we checked the elevator and stairs were blocked but it looks like the elevator works now.” The Team looked relieved to know that there was somewhere they could go now and whatever was up there could help them get out, however Rise still had something she wanted to say.

“I- There’s something strange up there too, it’s like nothing I’ve felt before… I think someone might be up there too…”

“Wait, really?!”

Kanji cracked his knuckles. “How much are you willing to bet that they have something to do with this? Unless they explain themselves I’m gonna beat them to a pulp.”

* * *

When they made their way of the elevator they stepped out into the food court and took in the sight around them. Beyond the food court there was nothing but a thick cloud of fog, even if that fog wasn’t there Yosuke was sure that there wasn’t anything out there anyway. Everything else in the court looked the same except for the tall eight blue doors he had counted in total that were scattered around; it didn’t look like anything was holding them up.

“Please don’t tell that’s more fog…” He heard Yukiko say desperately. It was the last thing any of them wanted to see right now.

What was more was that now they were here Yosuke had no idea what they where supposed to do. He didn’t even know what the weird doors were even for. “Where did those doors even come from? You think they’re used for something? I don’t exactly see why anyone would put them out in the middle of nowhere like this.”

“That is because they were created by this place for a purpose.” A new voice replied.

Startled they all quickly turned around to face the source of the new voice and suddenly Yosuke regretted not bringing some kind of weapon with him, not like they hadn’t left most of their stuff in the T.v world, but he was sure he could have easily improvised.

Behind them they found Marie staring out into the nothingness that covered the horizon.

“Marie!? What are you doing here..?”

“Yeah!” Rise added. “Where have you been? We haven’t seen you in ages..!”

The black-haired girl with the blue hat looked guiltily away from them. It was true that it had been a long time since they had last seen her; after they had saved her on their ski trip she had almost all but vanished and none of them could find her after that. “I’m really sorry about that, I just had some that only I could really take care of on my own. I guess I should have said something though..”

“Yeah, you should have! We were so worried about you, you just disappeared without telling us and we had no idea if you were okay or not!” Rise said almost tearfully. “What were you doing that you didn’t need our help, I thought we had agreed that if you needed with something you should come to us..!”

“ it really is good to see you all again, I- I can’t really tell you where I’ve been… but I can tell you what I have been doing.”

“So, what it is it that you’ve been doing?” the brown-haired girl asked when she didn’t respond straight away.

“…I’ve been looking into something that had happened some time back. Something that I didn’t think about before had occurred to me and I couldn’t just let it go. I know that even if I had known things would have still ended up like this. I still don’t know everything, but I’m fairly certain that where we are now most is most likely your faults.”

_Wait! How was this any of their faults!?_

“Hang on just a minute! How the heck did we end up in this situation when we don’t even know what’s going on. You seem to know more than we do so that means that you can tell us where we are right, Marie?”

“Look, I don’t know the full story, but I’ll tell you most of what I know. You know what the velvet room and its purpose right? Well when I was there I happened to overhear something…” The girl sighed, she really wasn’t in the mood to explain everything, but she figured they deserved her to tell them this much. “On the last day _he_ was called back to that room rather than having the chance to be dragged down to Yomi during your battle with Izanami-“

Several gasps could be heard around her.

“ I didn’t know what it was at the time but while he was there Yu had been handed a blank card. I didn’t really think much of it then. It was just like all the other tarot cards he had acquired before; thought I did find it a little odd that there was nothing on this one. If- if only I knew what it would end up doing…”

Yosuke couldn’t help but laugh. “Of course, It all just had to come back to him doesn’t it? Dang it!! Why now..? Why does this keep on happening to us? How can you be so sure, what did it do to him!?”

He didn’t mean to make her feel so bad, even though he hardly knew what she did something inside him was telling him that she really had no part in what had- what had happened to partner. But if all this was true then maybe they still had a way of finding out what had happened when they had lost sight of their leader. If he could find out what happened then they could finally put it to rest. Not knowing hurts a lot more than you could imagine.

“They had called it ‘The Universe’, I’m fairly new to the Velvet room so I assumed that’s why I hadn’t seen it before. I heard a story once from Margret, back when she had still been trying to convince her sister to come back. I overheard someone’s name during one of their arguments and when I asked she told me, though it was only very brief because she didn’t feel exactly comfortable talking about it.

She had told me ‘How that card was really unique and unlike the rest only one existed. Before Yu attained the card it had belonged to someone else once. When they had been in a similar situation like yours an Ultimate form of power was granted to them supposedly by the Gods. Just as it had been given to them, they had passed it down onto him. It is not just a card that you can just get, just as you have developed yours. However, that also means that it was not a power that any human has been adapted to. Your bodies aren’t suited to wield that much power, even if they are capable of holding a large amount of power. When they used it the power within it was not stable… And so that’s what I believed happened to your friend too.” By the time she had finished she was almost in tears.

“Did.. did they know that would happen to them..?”

“They did.”

.

.

.

Yosuke couldn’t help but wince. If this was true then that must mean that Yu knew what he was getting into. He would have known that by using that power that did not belong to him that he could die. He knew what risks he was taking, and he still took them. There could have been another way, they could have beaten her and clear the fog and all of them could go back together. He didn’t have to do use whatever it was that he had been given… they could have found a different way; he could have found a different way.

“But that still doesn’t explain why we’re responsible for… whatever this is!”

She shook her head. “I don’t know either, or why it is you. But the more I examine everything this place and everything comes back to you. However, I’m grateful for you guys saving me so when I knew you were trapped and needed help I came here to repay the favour.”

“Aww, I knew Emmy-chan would save the day. I’m so beary honoured for you to help us-“

“So now that you’re here you have a plan right?” Chie interrupted Teddie’s string of complements.

“…Actually no.”

Of course she didn’t, why would Yosuke expect anything to go right? Unbelievable.

Marie turned to face one of the doors. “But we can start with them for a start.”

She did have a point. The doors clearly had some purpose to them. They could be dangerous, and it wasn’t wrong to assume so after all of the chests they had opened and had a shadow pop out of them. They got Rise and Teddie to check them but until they were opened they had no way of opening them. Seeing as they had no alternative they decided they would go along with her. After a unanimous decision Marie opened the door closest to the door they had just came through and walked into the bright light.

* * *

“You know senpai I am actually quite happy that my grandfather did something like that.”

“He sounds like he’s a good person, Naoto.”

Yu and Naoto were sat on a bench outside talking to each other. She had been talking about her grandfather and the grey-haired boy had been listening to her tentatively. She was never really the one to talk about herself, so she was pretty embarrassed to talk about herself for long but after he had insisted it was healthy she had felt that it would be wrong of her not to. if she could tell the most intimate part of herself it would be him. He would always be there to listen to you about anything and he would never judge you seriously. Whatever she tells him she knows it will be safe with him.

“Yeah, he was pretty amazing. When I had no one else to look after me he had been the one to take me in. I’m grateful for that. Even though he’s not as strong as he used to be he still makes sure that I’m alright. It’s true that I loved being a detective and I always wanted to follow our family’s footsteps but with how the police is I had seriously begun to question if it was right for me at all…”

She took off her hat and began to examine it closely, picking at the stray pieces of thread. “When I was younger he used to give me little cases to solve when I was bored. Honestly I have no idea why I didn’t suspect it at all. I guess I still have a lot to learn, huh.”

She turned to smile at Yu who sat beside her. “Thanks to you and Grandfather I have come to love it again. Thank you, Senpai.”

The boy smiled. “Your welcome.”

.

.

.

At first Yosuke didn’t know what to make of the place. After the initial light he managed to adjust his eyes and he was able to see his friends in front of him. In a brief few moments, the solid white scenery had changed, and a scene played out in front of them. The two people from those images had disappeared and left behind an empty bench. It had most likely been a flashback, but what was so important about that memory?

“Naoto, why did it show that?” Yukiko said first after everyone had tried to get over the wave of pain after seeing an image of their former leader.

“I-I don’t know. I cant think of anything significant about our conversation. It was from the time when I had just found out that a side case I was working on had been set up by my grandfather after he found out that I was considering leaving the detective business.” For once Naoto was completely confused and could not think of a single thing to justify it to her friends. It didn’t even have anything to do with their old case or the T.v world.

“I was really hoping you would know as well. With so little context I couldn’t tell what I was supposed to be looking out for.” Chie said disgruntledly.

“It’s okay.” Kanji tried to reassure the blue-haired girl. “don’t beat ya self-up over it.”

Marie walked up to the bench and ran her hand across its surface before sitting down. “so you really don’t know huh? Well if that’s the case you guys just gotta go through the other doors and see what’s behind them.”

Naoto managed to regain her composure and nodded. “Your right. I think for now that would be our best course of action given that there could be a link between them all. We won’t know until we see them.”

They left back through the door and back out into the food court at June’s. As Yosuke stepped out last he noticed the doorframe beginning to fade and he quickly pulled the rest of his right leg from out of the door. When he turned the door had all but vanished.

“So the doors disappear when you go though them, that’s good to know.”

“Which do should we choose next Marie?” Kanji asked eagerly.

She folded her arms. “Tell considering we just went thought that one I suggest we go through the on the left; that one’s the next closest to us.”

This time it was the tallest boy to open the door and lead everyone inside.

* * *

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.

.

“Why was he only just telling me now? Doesn’t he understand that it’s too late..!? He’s got my kohai now so what does it matter what I do. She’s already way better than I had been at the start. “

“Hey, I think that you’re still pretty good.”

It was a new scene this time with their leader and their navigator. They were outside Rise’s tofu shop and she seemed quite distressed. She looked down to the ground as if she was fighting a huge battle in her head. It appeared that she had lost because soon that ground below her started to be littered with tear drops.

“Why am I even crying right now..? it was me, I was the one who gave up everything. I should be happy that I’m finally free from the claws of that greedy corporation, so why am I not? Not crying, I’m not upset, not one bit!”

“It’s fine to cry you know, you don’t have to keep it inside.”

“I know, but I lost everything! It’s all my fault! I did this so that I could be happy but no I have nothing…” She began to tremble and all of a sudden more tears began to flow.

As she stood there and cried she covered her eyes with her arms. Soon another pair of arms wrapped around her shoulders and she was being brought closer to his chest. “You have us.”

“I know.”

.

.

.

“I knew it was going to be another one, but did it have to be mine? And they choose the worst one to show. Nnhh...” Rise said trying to avoid looking at any of the others.

_That jealous part inside Yosuke had risen up again. He really didn’t want to see how he had hugged her just as he had done to him. It didn’t make it as special knowing that he had done the same to their friends._ In Yu’s eyes he was no different from them.

“So do you mind asking us what that was about?” kanji asked as he looked around her grandmother’s shop.

Eventually after some hesitation she answered him. it had been the time when she had just found out they had given someone who she knew a big movie part which they had planned to give to her before she had quit. She thought that she would have been glad that she no longer had the pressure of playing such a huge role but because she had missed that chance her fans started to forget about her for the new up coming star. It was only then she had realised how much she had grown to love acting and not just because ‘it had helped her to make friends’. Their leader had been their to comfort her and remind her that she still had a chance to go back and just because she had lost a few fans didn’t means she couldn’t win them back once she re-debuts.

“Hey, it’s okay, you should have told us you had felt like that.” Chie said almost shamefully as she hadn’t known at the time she had been going through so much trouble. “if you struggle with coming back you can always rely on me.”

“Of course I know that now..! Haven’t you been watching..!? I know more than enough by now that we don’t do things on our own.” Rise puffed up her chest to emphasise her words.

“Just checking.”

Marie gave a fake cough so that she could get them to move on to the next one, but also to hide her own shame at how she didn’t do the same. They made their way back through and just like last time the door disappeared on their way out and made their way through the next one.

* * *

This time the scene had changed slightly. They found themselves inside the velvet room and on the other side of the limousine there was Yu again and this time a faint image of Teddie. He seemed to be down, and he sat away from the other. They were only images so no amount of talking to them could make them interact with them, but that much they thought.

They heard the other Teddie muttering something before he turned in surprise; he must have not noticed that the other had been next to him the whole time. He got up and stood in front him from where he sat staring at the other person. 

“Sensei? What are you doing here?”

“I could ask you the same.” Their calm leader replied.

He looked a lot more upbeat knowing that he was not alone in the mysterious place. “So Sensei doesn’t know either, how mysterious. I guess I don’t know a lot yet… but I did come to realise something. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking, about who I am and stuff, but I didn’t find anything. Humans live in their world and shadows live in the other; that’s all there was too it. What I desperately tried to find was just wishful thinking. I’m just a shadow, nothing more, nothing less.”

“But you’re not just a shadow..!” Yu flinched forward in his seat as soon as he heard that Teddie was talking himself down. He didn’t like to see his friend think bad about themselves when they had meant so much to him.

Teddie gave a hesitant smile. “You really are too kind Sensei… But you’re right, I am Teddie, but I am a shadow. I just wanted to be a human just like you guys, it’s so lonely on the other side. I’m sorry I left you guys, but shadows just don’t belong in your world, it’s as simple as that.”

Yu shook his head. “Even still, there’s no reason why you can’t try to. you’re more human than some of the people I’ve met. Besides although you aren’t technically human you definitely aren’t quite just a shadow anymore. Shadows… there are only just rejected parts of other people. The fact that you have a consciousness and persona of your own alone proves that. I think you’re a human without a human body.”

“So, what I’m a ghost?”

Yu let out a small chuckle. “I didn’t say that Teddie.”

“Still, thanks. But what am I going to do now..? I can’t even protect the ones I care about, Nana-chan got hurt because of me, what use am I… I don’t know what I’m supposed to do…”

“Let’s figure it out together.”

“Thank you, even if I am no help I’ll still support you.”

.

.

.

The image of Teddie disappeared but the grey-haired boy still remained. He appeared to be staring at them, or rather something behind them. As Yosuke turned he realised that whatever it was they weren’t supposed to see it.

_‘So this was the all famous Velvet room he had heard partner talk about so much, it was different from what he had imagined.’_

It hurt a million times over to see him again just across the room, even if this Yu was no different from a photograph. He could see that they were all tempted to stay with him, but they knew they had to move on.

As they left the third door he heard Naoto speak up. “I think I have started to see the link, though pardon me if I am wrong. So far all of the things we have seen is one of us and Senpai. If this place has something to do with him then it is no wonder we keep seeing him.”

“But why those memories..?” Teddie asked as he left the room last.

“Think about it; what do they have all in common?”

_Common, common… Yosuke couldn’t see anything common except for the fact that Partner had been in them and he-_

“He had been helping them through their problems, that’s it isn’t it?”

“I believe so. I had thought about my own memory and I’ve come to realise that what we have been seeing were memories we held most fondest of our Leader. I think that’s why they were shown.”

Yukiko grumbled. “with how many doors are here does that mean that all of us will end up showing something? It’s kind of personal don’t you think.”

“I know Yukiko, but I don’t think we have a choice.”

* * *

“Yeah that’s it. Two more stiches and you’re done!”

Yu’s room was shown this time with him and Kanji sat on the floor near his table with all the books on top moved to the side. This time Kanji had brought more fabric for their leader to practice with. They were only spare scraps that were cut-offs from a Yukata on commission of a client who wanted to buy a new one after her cat accidently shredded up her old one she had treasured so much. Since she had no option but to get a new one she at least wanted it to still be somewhat special.

When Yu had finally stopped picking out a stich after everyone he made he successfully embroidered his first flower. It was only a simple green flower that was wonky and looked like it could come undone in a few mere seconds, but Kanji had looked proud none the less.

“Thanks’ for teaching me. It means a lot.”

Kanji grinned. “It’s no problem at all. I’m sure Nanako would love it lots if her Big Bro were to give her that. That in itself is worthwhile to me.”

Yu looked down to the handkerchief he had made, and he couldn’t wait to surprise his little sister with it.

.

.

.

If Yosuke was starting to make sense of it the order of the doors were probably based on the order of when they had gotten their persona.

* * *

“Is the water boiling yet?”

“No Yukiko, if it was you’d be able to see the bubbles in the water. If you put it in too soon you run the risk of not being able to tell when to take it out and you could either under or over-boil it.”

Yu and Yukiko were standing over a large metal pot in the Dojima’s kitchen. Yukiko had come to him for cooking advice lately because after the recent insult about how awful her cooking was she wanted to get better. Today he was helping her make one of the ramen dishes she had seen one of the staff at the inn make but she had been too embarrassed to admit to them that the daughter of the establishment didn’t even know how to boil a basic egg without screwing it up. With that much protein Chie was certainly going to like it.

“There, now just put on the spring onions and we’re finished. Try a bite.”

Yukiko took the chopsticks from his hand and lowered it into the bowl before taking a bite like he had told her to do. “Wow..! It actually tastes okay! How can I ever thank you?”

Yu looked at her blankly. “just don’t poison me again.”

“Hey! I’m not that bad! … Actually yes, me and Chie’s cooking makes me feel really weird…” Suddenly her mood jumped back up. “Well that just means you got to keep on helping me then.”

* * *

They were in the shopping district now and this time it was Chie who stood by him. A gang had just walked away a few moments ago after they had been bullying a smaller boy. After she had threatened them they eventually backed away and the young boy had thanked her before he ran way.

“Chie, I know you wanted to help but if you had gotten hurt-“

“I know, I know. I’m sorry. That was pretty impulsive of me. “ After all that adrenaline she hadn’t realised how much she had put herself in danger. She couldn’t believe how she made someone as nice as him become worried about her like that. If something were to happen to one of her friends she would feel so horrible.

“It’s alright Chie as long as you know. You were only trying to protect that kid. You did nothing wrong.”

Chie was glad that she had protected that child. Being a cop was something she’s pretty much always wanted to do ever since she had watched her first action movie. At first she thought it was acting that gave her that rush but as soon as she tried signing up to one of her school’s plays she quickly realised that it definitely wasn’t it. It was the running around and the awesome moves that the characters did that excited her; Chie wanted to be apart of that.

“Y’know we we’re supposed to be hanging out, but I totally ruined it. Let me make me make it up to, for once I’ll be buying the stake for the two of us, and before you say anything don’t deny just because you’re trying to be polite.”

“In that case I gladly accept.”

* * *

There where only two doors now and they went into the second to last. After seeing everyone else’s visions he knew that he would eventually be next. It was on the Samegawa riverbank and the two of them were laying down on the grass staring at the sun. out of all the times he had spent with Partner he had been willing to bet that this one of his would have been a candidate for all to see. It was one thing to see him with their friends, but it pained him more to see the two of them together.

**_“The power to protect what’s dear to me, huh… heh, just what I wanted.”_ **

This had been after the time Yosuke had asked for Yu to hit him, but Yu being Yu had only agreed if Yosuke hit him back. For the first time Yosuke felt truly equal with someone and it felt good knowing that he had a friend who was willing to slug it out with you whenever you needed a good beating to finally make sense of things. Because of him he was able to get Susano-o for the first time and Yosuke had been happy to know that now he could help the group more. He had been surprised that his persona was even capable of upgrading like that because he wasn’t like partner who had new personas popping out of his ass nearly everything they had entered the T.v. any time he had asked about it Yu had explained to him about the Velvet room which is how the group had known about it even though they didn’t exactly know how it worked.

_‘ **Look how well that turned out.’**_

It was kind of ironic hearing that now.

.

.

.

Yosuke was relieved when the door fizzled away because he couldn’t handle another second looking at his best friend. 

From behind he felt all of his friends glancing towards him and in particular Chie who stood a little closer. “You two used to be quite close, huh. Like two peas in a pod.”

“We still are.”

“You know what I meant, with how close you guys were there was nothing that could separate you the both of you. I mean it.”

_‘How many times has he heard that before from almost everyone he was around? It meant nothing if he wasn’t with him anymore.’_

“There’s one more door, let’s go through that one.”

Don’t you want to take a little break Yosuke, it’s still pretty hard for us to handle seeing all those memories. It think it’s a good idea to take a little rest you know.”

“I said let’s keep going.”

No one could find it in them to argue against him.

* * *

Yu stood alone in the abyss of swirling fog.

A creature now only driven by instinct of rage was in front of him.

This wasn’t any of their memories; it was his Partner who’s name everyone now struggled to say.

He had gone in thinking that a memory of Marie’s would be waiting for them but instead it just had to be his. With the memory of the girl’s he thought that it would distract the others and himself from his own but now it only amplified his emotions.

He looked like he was in a trance and just like that the large robotic persona appeared in front of Yu as it did now to them. Only warped sounds came out of him as it focussed its gaze onto its wielder below. 

Not long after the rest of his personas followed and appeared almost instantly, their faint outlines slowly coming into view. Yosuke could find himself recognising many of them such as the weird flying pumpkin head or the one with the trumpet. Some he had almost forgotten about before because they hadn’t been used for a very long time, he had seen him use a couple of personas for only a few battles and then they would be put away for good.

He saw Yu nod once at the being before him.

Another warped sound came from it and all the personas Yosuke had been looking at slowly turned back into their summoning cards. They swirled around the persona as they glowed. He didn’t know what they were doing but he hadn’t expected them to actually merge into the robot. Izanagi’s form had changed once more. He still looked familiar to his form he had obtained when they had defeated Sagiri. However, this time he appeared much taller and its colours had changed. Its large sword and coat were now lined with platinum than its gold and he now glowed like how it did after it had rained kinda like a rainbow. He now had a blood red rope around its waist and colourful orbs rotated around him.

"Of course you had to show up Izanagi, I am still surprised you didn't just up and run away from him like you always do. Still, I won't back down. Even if were to fail the world will end eventually, you can't stop it, nobody can prevent the End forever, as long as humans exist they will wish for the 'Fall'.” The tall, twisted creature spoke, Yosuke felt sick just by looking at her and he didn’t even think it was because she was ugly and decayed.

Yu pulled off his glasses and they landed on the floor beside him.

" Come Izanagi-no-okami telos!"

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.

.

Even after the images had long but faded they all stood there without making an attempt to move. _‘What was that..?’_ Because he didn’t know what he had just seen and most likely neither did they. Then it had hit him; this was the last time Partner had been alive. This was what happened when they were no longer fighting along side him. The very floor below him was a replica of the same one which they had been dragged down into. He could remember now what had happened when that woman had sent them away. Yosuke had been lost in a void of nothingness and he found his own persona waiting for him. he had been trying to convince him to leave and that he couldn’t lose himself in that place, not when they still had something to do. He heard the voices of his own friends somewhere in the distance. And when he tried to follow the voices he had woken up into the new T.v world. That transformation that Izanagi had must have been because of that card Marie had told him about. It was because of that power that everything was ruined. Why couldn’t it be Yosuke who took that one for the team? He was sure that the others would have missed him less than their leader.

“Marie why did it have to be him?” He spoke at last.

He heard her wince. “It was because he had the most potential, a power like that could have easily ripped someone apart in an instant. It was already impressive that he had lasted as long as he did. It could have only been him.”

Teddie tried to hide back his sniffling. “So that means that Teddie failed him..? Because he wasn’t strong enough, so he took that burden on himself…”

She quickly waved her hands in front of herself to dispel him. “No, not at all. It isn’t like that. You can’t just get it yourself someone has to give it to you. We didn’t get the choice to decide who gets to receive it. It was ‘ _them’_ who did.”

“So what..?! our friend is dead because of some already dead person?!” Chie accused as if she was about to burst into flames on anger alone.

“It was his choice to accept it. Do not bring them into it.”

This time another voice had spoken behind them, but as Yosuke looked towards the door he could not find himself recognising them. He did however find her uniform very familiar, it seemed like it was straight out of the Velvet Room. She wore a blue hat the same colour as Marie’s that hid her short white hair and yellow eyes he had only seen not belonging on a humanoid shadow once before.

“Hey! Look here you insensitive cow, it wasn’t like he really had much of a choice. It was either he gave up his life or have the world destroyed; you really can’t call that a ‘choice’!”

The strange woman ignored her as the brown-haired girl shouted at her instead opting to glance over to Marie. She gave her a choked laugh. “So, it appears you have told them my former guests story. You’re Marie right? I’ve heard a lot about you. You’re supposed to be my replacement isn’t that right..?”

“You know her..?” One of the group asked.

“Yes, she was Margret’s sister I was talking about, the one who she had been trying to convince to come back. She was the attendant of that person who had aided your friend. After they had passed away she had left in the search of trying to bring them back. “ She looked over to the woman next to her as she spoke.

The white-haired woman shook her head. “Actually that’s not quite right. I’m not trying to find a way to ‘bring them back’ I’m trying to find a way to set them free.”

“Set them free..?” Kanji echoed.

“You should all consider yourself lucky that your friend had been allowed to die.”

“SHUT THE HELL UP! ‘Lucky? Lucky!? How is it lucky that he died? If it’s this honourable shit I don’t want to hear it. It wasn’t even his problem but yet he was still forced to sacrifice himself. So you can just fucking drop the crap.” Although he sounded angry he was more frustrated than anything.

“What I meant was that my guest didn’t truly die when he did. Your friend was just too weak to handle that power, mine died because they had to use their own life force to seal away something from an undefeatable being who would do more than just turn you into mere shadows. If he didn’t the Fall would have been brought about. All I seek is a way to free him. I’m not arrogant to think I can just raise the dead whenever I feel like it. “

There it was again. This ‘Fall’ he had heard during Yu’s fight with Izanami. He had been wondering what it was, but it didn’t seem like any of them would know if he had asked. However this stranger did, and Yosuke wanted to know whatever the hell it was.

“What is that ‘Fall’ crap anyway..? I keep hearing it and it means something doesn’t it?”

The stranger opened her mouth to speak, but shortly after she did she closed her mouth again. She gave a small smile before she opened it once more. “Heh, just like last time too.” She seemed to be looking at something behind them and as he turned he saw a figure in the distant fog. “Looks like your whole facing everything worked well. I don’t know what sister held you in such high regards, but you all are just the same.”

She must have noticed him staring because as he turned back around she had a sad smile on her face. “Go, find out for yourselves.”

As he walked forward the rest of the group were two steps behind him, eventually he heard them gasp which meant that they couldn’t see the figure before. When Yosuke moved closer he heard another voice behind him. he turned around again and found Margret again beside the other woman.

“No..! don’t go ahead any further, it isn’t what you think.” She had a frantic look on her face and so he had to see what was concerning the blonde woman so much.

As he turned a lump got caught in his throat.

He could tell before because of how similar his hair-colour was to the fog, but there was no mistaking it; it was partner!

He couldn’t believe he was here again, and he wasn’t just in a vision either. It was the living breathing Yu. He heard the joyous exclaims from his friends and having a similar idea they all ran towards him shouting his name.

“WAIT! STOP, IT ISN’T THE REAL HIM!!”

But they were too far up ahead that they couldn’t her Margret calling for them to stop. They were all just so happy to see their leader again that none of them made an effort to slow down, instead charging at him at full speed towards their old friend. It was Yosuke’s second chance to make things right with him.

By the time there was only several feet difference between them and their leader Yosuke couldn’t help but feel like something was wrong. Suddenly he felt really sick.

A sight that once brought them so much joy now only served to make them horrified. Because as Margret said, it wasn’t the Yu they knew.

This Yu had solid grey eyes and grey veins on its pale complexion. He didn’t smile or shout or anything when he saw them running towards them. It was just a fake and he knew it just had to be too good to be true. The fake version wore the same Yasogami uniform as his and unless you stood as close as they did you couldn’t tell it was anyone else.

“What is that thing..?!”

“Wha…”

“No, no way. This isn’t true.”

Margret eventually caught up, but her sister was not with her. She gave the others a pitting look and told them that she was sorry. “This creature was born from all of you. It grew as you all pushed away your feelings. It is here because you denied yourself the chance to grieve. “ She looked around where they stood before her eyes settled on the being ahead.

“This place? It is a void where the hidden parts of yourself that didn’t want the fog to truly go away. If it did it would mean that your journey was over. It had been over in this story, yet you all refused to believe that. You still all desperate clung on to his image. That is way it is here and the only reason why you are trapped here is because you trapped yourselves. “

_‘They didn’t want the fog to go away? But if it didn’t, doesn’t that mean that all of their leader’s efforts had gone to waste?’_

No, he couldn’t let that happen.

For the first time since Yosuke had seen the creature it had started to move. It raised its right hand and he had been confused to what it was he was doing, but then he realised why that action had been so familiar to him. It was like it was calling onto a persona.

“SHIT! EVERYONE MOVE OUT OF THE WAY..!”

Despite Yosuke’s early warning Chie still managed to get struck by a fireball by the hands of a multi-armed being. Yosuke knew this one. One time a few months back partner had held him back in the T.v world and took him a side to show him it. He told him that it was a representation of their bond.

_“Its name is Mada and it’s all thanks to you.”_

This imposter had no right to use that one, it was his and his alone.

As everyone regained their senses after the sudden surprise attack Rise summoned her persona and started to navigate them. They had no weapon with them expect the bag Marie always carried with her and she didn’t know how to fight with a persona yet. They had no order and so they ended up firing any random attacks at the thing they could. At first it appeared to be working but then Kanji threw a physical attack at it and it had bounced back onto them.

“Oww…”

“It hurts.”

Marie and Margret stood back as they fought, and they observed them. As much as Margret wanted to help them she knew her master would not approve of it. It was their battle not hers. They had to fight this by themselves, after all they were the ones that created it.

After all of them nearly got their asses wiped Yosuke told them to go back. They were getting nowhere like this. They needed someone to direct them, yet their leader wasn’t with them.

**_‘The power to protect what’s important to me.’_ **

If he wasn’t here to guide them then Yosuke would have to instead.

**“If the end of the year comes before we can solve this I think you would be more than capable of taking over in my place Yosuke.**

**We’re equals remember?”**

He closed his eyes, and when he opened them again he looked over to Rise. “Rise, I’m going to need you a lot here. I’ll try to direct everyone but don’t hesitate to give orders as well if you see me slipping.

She stared at him blankly before smiling at him. “You got it, Yosuke-Senpai!”

He turned to the rest of the group. “alright, we’re getting nowhere like this. Chie, Kanji and Teddie, I want you to stand down. The heavy hitters should be behind so we can make a wall so that it doesn’t get passed us at hit the others behind us and I want someone to be able to protect them, but don’t be afraid to throw in a hit now and then if you can. Yukiko, try to reserve your energy. We don’t have any recovery potions so your role as healer will be most important. Naoto I want you to be on full front attack, your insta-kills could be really important right now.”

“Of course.”

As soon as she had agreed to it everyone followed suit. He wouldn’t be as good as their actual leader but sometimes the only thing you can do is improvise. Man, did he wish he had he kunai right now. Next time he was in work he was so tempted to just keep them in his locker in the staff room, but he had a feeling that it wouldn’t go down very well. He had already gotten in trouble before when he was caught waving those prop sword around. He didn’t want another reason for the town to hate him.

He saw the thing in front of him raising his hand in an upright position and spoke a name with no sound but the way its mouth moved was the only indication it had tried to speak at all. A horned woman in white floated above the creature and lighting bolts narrowly missed Yosuke’s feet. The personas that the fake Yu created had black smoke around them and they looked more warped than they had ever done when Partner had used them. Another shower of lighting came his way and he only just dodged them.

He shoot forth blades of winds and it managed to slice through the enemy fairly easily. It seemed that the enemy was too slow at dodging many of their attacks without the aid of a persona. This time it unsheathed the Katana strapped to its side and swung it at the brown-haired boy.

Naoto summoned her persona again and sent rays of light to blind the creature. It worked and they managed to catch it off-guard with an all-out attack.

It seemed to take in a lot of damage, but it only stood there in the same place. It looked at them and for a few seconds the creature busted into a blackish-purplish tinge of flames before they all suddenly felt a searing pain. It felt like he was beating beaten up by several people with fists and a kick to his stomach that made him gasp out in pain.

He heard Rise speak to them in his head through her visor. “Guys, it seems that he can reverse your attacks and take the same amount of health from you when he does that, be careful. I cant tell you when he is going to do it except only seconds before. I’m really sorry Yosuke, I wish I could do more.”

“It’s alright, Rise. It’s hard to see in this place anyway without our glasses.”

Yukiko quickly when to heal them, but as she did she was hit with an ice attack. It was then he realised that it might have actually been possible that it had been going for their weaknesses. It was obvious it couldn’t read them otherwise it would have known when they were going to attack, but it appeared that it already seemed to know what their weaknesses were.

“He can read our weaknesses..!?” he heard Chie exclaim in surprise. It was kind of understandable because they knew that their leader knew all about their personas weaknesses and strengths so it was no wonder why this fake could too if it had supposedly been born from them.

With the help of Yosuke they were able to successfully switch around to avoid being targeted and any time it tried that weird reversing thing of its they were able to dodge the worst of it with Rise’s guidance. It was incredibly weak by the time Teddie had stricken the being it was almost down to its last legs. This final hit should finish it off.

Except it didn’t and now they had a creature with no health left standing in front of them.

His first thoughts was that this was exactly the same thing that had happened last time too. With Izanami standing tall and no way of stopping her. You can’t kill something that doesn’t die when it should.

“No…”

“Not, again.”

He could hear the disbelief and horror from their friends as they realised that they could no longer touch it. As he told his friends to back down they had ignored him and sent attacks on their own accord.

The police detective tried to lower the creatures defence, but it did not work at all. “Naoto, it appears that it doesn’t effected by status elements. Try to use something else. Anything..!”

More fireballs, lighting and ice were thrown around, but the creature just stood there unmoving. In their frantic state they could not see the flames that surrounded the creature once more.

Even Yosuke was not able to dodge it.

Suddenly he heard sicking cries from his friends and the pain hurt so bad for a moment Yosuke thought he was dying. However that wasn’t far off from what was going to happen to them soon. All of them found themselves on the ground and he couldn’t help but curl up on the ground to stop the pain.

Last time something happened like this Yu was able to protect them when they could no longer fight. But now he was gone and there was no one left to save them. Yosuke found himself not as worried as he should have been. It would finally mean that he could see the real him again and not this monster that they had created to replace him. he could tell him how much he missed him and he could wrap his hands around him and never let him go again,

And he could finally say that he loved him.

Yosuke watched as the beast in front of him was powering up for another charge. ‘ _So this was it, huh?’_

In his last moments he thought about the thing in front of him. so, this was how they saw their leader. He wasn’t as warm as he had once pictured but he was still pretty similar. He was an amazing fighter and always knew how they could improve on their defences. He taught them how to work as a team and Yosuke was certain he wouldn’t have been as close to his friends a as he was without the help from him. This Yu was invincible just as they had seen their leader once.

_‘He saw him as invincible… just like how this one was…’_

Everything clicked at once inside his head. He thought he might have finally found the answer why they couldn’t defeat it. It all made sense now.

He finally stopped hurting as much and he able to drag himself to his feet surprising his friends who still couldn’t even talk. The pain transformed into only a dull aching pain.

_‘The leader I know would never hurt his friends.’_

He glanced at the creature before tuning to look at his friends on the floor. “It’s okay. You guys can get up now.”

He could hear Kanji grumble something, but it was hard to hear what he was saying when he was fining it harder and harder to move, most likely he was swearing at Yosuke about how it clearly ‘ _was not fine’ and there was no way any of them were going to be able to get off the damned floor._

Everyone thinking he had lost his insanity Yosuke gave a half-choked laugh.

“Really, everything is alright now. I think I know we can’t defeat him. “ he took a deep breath. “This… thing. It was created by us alone, isn’t that right?”

“That’s right.” He heard Margret respond as she was now stood by the door.

Yosuke watched her nod and so he continued. “that also means that it is only what we think it is. It means that our emotions are the things that are influencing it. It looks like Yu because we want it to be him. his strength? That’s because we saw him as strong. The way it moves? That’s because that is how we know Yu to.

….And the reason why he’s undefeatable..?” Yosuke couldn’t hold back some of it and he ended up giving strained sobs “That’s because we saw Yu as invisible.”

But he wasn’t invincible, and what they had done was hold him onto this pedestal that nothing could ever take down their all powerful and strong leader. Yu hadn’t been invincible, and he hadn’t been from the start.

“Because… we saw him like that..?” he found Teddie stirring from his place and he was looking up at Yosuke. “We were the one’s that turned him into this horrible creature..? …Sen-Sensei, I’m so beary, beary sorry..! Please forgive me, please forgive all of us..!” The bear’s eyes suddenly widened, and he stopped rolling on the ground. In an instant he found himself easily able to stand with no problems. The pain and bruises that littered his face had vanished like he had never been attacked at all. 

After seeing Teddie and Yosuke the others desperately tried to do the same, and successfully they upright themselves and stood again. The twisted being in front of them stopped charging for its power attack and stood their motionlessly.

“You’re right Yosuke. I-I can’t deny that this is how I feel. With Senpai’s ability I foolishly lead myself to believe that he was untouchable. That was wrong of me. That’s why I want to say I am sorry.” Naoto said with her low voice slightly higher than she usually spoke.

Rise had nearly burst out in tears before she could find it in herself to apologise and so Chie walked up to her and supported her with an arm. “I’m so sorry too. I let my feelings get in the way of the truth. I’m supposed to protect my friends and all I did was put them in danger. I don’t want to lose them either.”

“You did so much for me that I lost sight of who you were. For that I want to apologise.” Yukiko said as she rubbed at her eyes.

“Yeah, you were pretty impressive. I wish only now I didn’t leave everything up to you. that’s why we’re in this mess, we’re supposed to act like a team not just a one-man band. If you were struggling I wish I made it easier for you depend on me. Some man I am.”

“I finally know how it feels when you’re on the other side. Watching someone protect you while you stand helpless. I think I understand what it means to be a cop better. So I want to thank you, and I’m sorry for making you worried. I thought about how easy it would be to just die, but that would only mean that I would leave behind my friends. It isn’t just you who is important, but I care for all of my friends. I cant just abandon them when they still need me.” Chie wanted to keep on going but her tears would no longer allow her.

“Same goes for me.” She looked behind her and found Marie smiling sadly at her. “When I was alone and hid myself inside the Hollow Forest I thought it would be less painful for me if I hadn’t existed.” The black-haired girl went to reach for her hands and held them in front of them. “But then you guys came, and it was because of you that I learnt to love the world. That’s why no matter what happens you still have to go on living because you never know what’s going to come the next day.”

“To think that you have gotten to love humans so much when you once pushed everyone away, I’m quite impressed.” Margret said nostalgically. “Everyday all of you never cease to amaze me. I too have grown fond of you all-“

“LIES! Everything! If you cared so much about him you wouldn’t let him die..! how can you say that you liked him when you killed him!?”

Overhearing their conversation the white-haired woman couldn’t help but be enraged.

It appeared that Margret got frustrated as well. “You think I wanted him to die, Elizabeth? No, I didn’t. I had no choice. What about you? you let the very same thing happen to them..!”

She shock her head. “It isn’t the same. You knew what it would do to him! I didn’t! and what’s more is that he is only dead while my guest has to suffer a fate worse than death! These human you hold so highly? All of them, they all killed them. How can you love humans? As long as they live they will continue to suffer.” Before the other woman could speak she cut her off. “y’know, I’ve been thinking, and isn’t it better to end their suffering then allow them to carry on living? How many more sacrifices do we need to keep on giving before this blood shed is over? I don’t want to keep on doing that, I can’t do that..! That’s why I left sister, it isn’t about them anymore, it’s about everything. So please tell me, how long will you live with yourself as you watch innocent people bare the burdens that are not theirs to fix? They are people, not tools for us to use.”

It took a long time for the blonde-haired woman to respond and as she did all of her anger had fizzled out. Instead she smiled at her sister. “You’re right, about humans being selfish and stuff. I can’t begin to tell you all the sins they have committed against each other. But think about it, it you let Erebus bring about the Fall and the world ends, doesn’t that mean that ‘their friends’ will be effected too. Rather than being alive, what meant the most to them were their friends. They weren’t tools Elizabeth, they never were. It is true that they had little option, but I don’t think they regret it either. They have found their answer; it’s time to let them go now.”

Elizabeth’s resolve broke down so easily by her words and soon she found herself openly sobbing in her arms like she had done that night so many years ago. She tried to stop feeling like this but after she had felt the seal weaken briefly during one of her visits she felt the need to investigate. She barged her way back into the Velvet Room once more despite the promise she made that she would not return until she had returned her friend. Igor told her that this was a story that she was not involved in and that it was in the hands of her older sister. But Elizabeth would not hesitate and didn’t leave until he had told her what her sister had done. She didn’t even know it had been possible for them to lend ‘The Universe’ though the seal without even breaking it. The fact that it didn’t meant that for that sort time the seal was only being purely held up by their powers alone. When she realised this she finally understood how important their friends and allies had been to them. Somewhere deep inside they were still protecting everyone.

“I-I know... it just- I want them back so much…”

“It’s okay, to feel like that. It’s not all hopeless though. You’ve noticed it, haven’t you? that every time something threatens the world the consequences the guests have to face are getting smaller and smaller. Every time there was always a group of humans willing to prove the rest of humanity wrong. So sister its alright to cry, cry as much as you want. It’s not the be all end all, things are always changing.”

As everyone watched the two of them interacting Yosuke was the only one still facing the creature. He had been the only one not to say something.

_‘It is not the end, huh.’_

“You know I was so happy to get to see you again, even when I knew it wasn’t you. It’s kind of silly isn’t it..?” He sobbed out.

Finally Yosuke found himself staring directly into its grey and lifeless eyes. “You were my best friend and when I lost you I couldn’t deal with it anymore. I pushed all those horrible feelings deep inside of me and pretended they didn’t exist. It’s kinda like I didn’t learn anything after the first time, you were the one who taught me how to deal with Saki’s death, because I couldn’t cope my shadow appeared. What you are is just the same thing. I just couldn’t accept the fact that you’re never coming back. But I realise now that I hadn’t lost you, I never did. Why couldn’t I see it before? This whole time you’ve been by my side, you promised me you will always be with me, and you have. You’re just on the other side of that river that Saki had crossed. Knowing she’s with you doesn’t make it hurt so bad anymore. If you see her tell her I said thanks for all of the things she has done for me. “

He wiped his eyes and stood up straight.

“And I will tell you I’m sorry, but I won’t tell you goodbye. That’s because you only tell people that when they leave you, but you’re not gone. It makes it seem like I won’t see you again if I told you goodbye. So instead I’ll say, ‘see you later’.”

He thought that would make the shadow disappear, but it didn’t. At least not at first.

Slowly he watched its skin peel away and then its muscle and soon nearly the entirety of it was gone. As he looked at it one final time he could have sworn it had been smiling.

“I’m glad that you all were able overcome your desires.” Margret said as she separated from her sister. “But now after everything I think it’s time that you should all be leaving.”

The taller attendant seemed to rustle around in her pocket as if she was looking for something before pulling out a key. “I was able to pull a few strings here and there, it seems like you’ll be needing it. It was the reason why I’m so late.”

Yosuke walked up to her and took the key from her hand into his own. “Thank you for everything, Margret.”

She simply smiled at him and then to the rest of them.

“No need, I too was able to find my own closure as well as make up with my sister. That in itself is more than enough. Still I have a feeling I’ll be seeing you all around soon.”

.

.

.

After they had left the two attendants, the group and Marie found themselves in front of June’s big double doors. The large crack that had separated it from the rest of the building was now gone and now they were freely able to leave.

Yosuke held the key in the lock.

“We’re ready Yosuke-Senpai.”

“Yeah, let’s leave this place, I don’t wanna be here longer than I have to.” Chie said stretching her legs.

He turned the key and they left.

* * *

:

A Few Months Later:

He set down the can by the side of him and twisted off the lid to his own drink. He took off his blazer off and folded it neatly and put it onto his lap as after he had sat down. It was summer and the heat wave had been particularly bad, it had taken the school ages, but they now had a semi-decent AC system to keep him cool and now he could finally focus better in class. Though much to his dismay he still ended up with Kashiwagi again for his homeroom for his Third year. He and Yukiko had ended up in the same class while Chie was placed next door. She didn’t let it bother her too much because the teacher she had was nice to her and almost the second the bell went she had gone straight for their classroom. Kashiwagi didn’t seem to mind and she frequently asked if she had found out about anything new about her teacher, for some reason Yosuke had the feeling that she was trying to get back at the other woman and was using Chie as her easy source for information.

“- And then we had gotten back home and Teddie had pestered me if we could have curry for dinner. Mom told that when she went into the store again she would get some ingredients to make some next time. She can be too soft on him sometimes; I think it’s all going to his head lately. What? I swear it’s all true, ask Naoto if you don’t believe me.”

Over golden week and the start of their summer break they had been involved in more bizarre incidents. Yosuke had been the first to tell them all about the adventures they had. Once the group couldn’t fight shadows and so they had to tame them using their emotions through the power of dance. It was completely ridiculous and at time Yosuke had found it embarrassing on more than one occasion but at least his knowledge of music had finally been paying off. He also told him about the strange girl they had recused and how she had actually been a robot the whole time and he thought Partner would get along well with her since he was always building those robot models, he had even taken her to see him after she had been repaired in the lab back on Tatsumi port island.

He took another drink and lent his head back to look at the sky. There was only just a single cloud in the deep see of blue. Luckily for Yosuke the shrine’s main gate blocked most of the blinding light form the suns rays. He sat there taking everything in.

When the wind began to pick up and a few more clouds came into view Yosuke decided that now would be a good time to head home.

“Oh! Right, I forgot the reason why I came here in the first place. I came here to let you know that it may be a while before I get to visit you. College exams are only just around the corner after all so we gotta attend additional study sessions. You know what it’s like, I remember when I had spent so much time slacking off in middle school that when it came to the high school exams I did nothing but studying until nearly the morning for a solid two weeks, even then I only just was able to pass. This time I’m going to totally ace those entrance exams. I finally decided on which one I want to. there’s this really nice college in the city and they specialise in music production, it is kind of competitive though. I’m going to make you proud of me, so you better wish me luck.”

He stood up and was about to walk away when he hesitated for a moment. He kneeled slightly and placed his hand on the headstone tracing its inscriptions.

“Before I go partner I just want to say that I love you.”

He shook his head and carried on walking down the path that lead to the steps at the front of the shrine grounds.

As Yosuke made his way home he took a little detour instead taking a more familiar route from last year. Near the Dojima’s residence he saw Nanako in a blue dress as she was adjusting something in a liner bag and placed it into the rubbish bin. He quickened his pace slightly and went to say hi to the little girl as she was about to turn and go back round the house. 

“Oh! Yosuke-nii..!” she smiled as she saw him. “It’s nice to see you again, what are you doing here?”

“Nothing much, I was just on my way back from visiting your Big Bro. So anyway what are you up to now, Nanako?”

She gestured to the small trowel. “It’s getting hotter again and since school is out I thought that I would clean up the garden a little.”

“That’s pretty kind of you. Need me to help you?”

“Really?! I mean… if you want to you can do. “ she replied shyly.

“Of course, it’s summer after all. You want to make the most of the weather before it gets too cold outside, though I did wish it could be just a tad bit cooler.” He pinched his index finger and thumb together emphasise.

She had taken him round back and showed him the backyard. It was mostly overrun with weed and in the middle he could she had already started to clear the polytunnels in the centre. The cat that the Dojima’s adopted also seemed to be lazily laying about under one of the fruit trees. It had been raining one night and the young girl had found the poor kitten almost slipping into one of the storm drains. After she had snuck the creature in and nursed it back to health her father had found it in her closet as she was out. She had begged him to keep it and Dojima just didn’t have it in him to tell her otherwise.

As Yosuke pulled some of the weeds from the patch he found the wilted tomato plants Partner and Nanako had planted from seed last year. “its been awhile since I last saw these guys.”

The small girl frowned slightly. “Yeah, I was just about to remove them. They ended up getting savaged by loads of frost, I was thinking about replacing them with some flowers. That nice lady in the shopping district said she would help me choose some new plants if I needed to.”

He took one of the floppy stems and rolled it between his fingers as he examined them. “Actually although most of this part is unusable I still think we can still salvage most of this.”

He eyes lit up. “Wait, really..?! oh, but I don’t really know much about gardening though. “

“Neither do I, but I guess that just means we can learn together.”

Right now Yosuke was happy. Sometimes he still cried and other times he laughed, but mostly Yosuke felt content. Spending time with his friends and looking after Nanako in his place he truly felt like he had finally found a place where he belonged. He got his own answers he had been looking for and he found himself closure. He still had many things he needed to do, but one day he would cross that river too.

.

.

.

_‘Narukami Yu;_

_A Son, a Nephew, a Brother, a Senpai, a Sensei, a Leader, a Partner, and a Hero._

_As long as he remains in our hearts, will never be gone.’_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can you believe that the last part of the story was actually the very first thing I wrote..?
> 
>   
> Anyway this brings it to the official end of this story. Thanks for making it up to this point. If at least one person reads this then it makes it all worthwhile. 
> 
> I tried to make it P3 neutral so either female or male character can be used considering your preferences. (Though while I wote it I had the boy in mind just because of my own preferences).
> 
> Apparently it's a tradition to put a white Lillie on someone's desk if they have passed away in Japan. Sounds way better than a card. 
> 
> While this may be the end I have possibly planned for a handful of short bonuses unrelated to the main story if anyone wants to read them. We'll have to see though. Right now I'm going to make some much needed grammar checks.
> 
> I'll see you all around I guess. Till next time.


End file.
